The Labour government has been ­accused of prioritising the drive to achieve net zero over family businesses, after recommending a solar panel scheme on farming land.

Rob and Emma Sturdy say they are “shocked and devastated” by the renewable energy decision on their tenanted land, which their family has farmed for three generations.

North Yorkshire council had initially refused Harmony Energy’s application for the solar farm in Malton in 2023 and the case went to a public inquiry, led by a planning inspector.

Matthew Pennycook, the housing and planning minister, has backed the planning inspector’s view by recommending permission be granted for the scheme, subject to conditions. The decision is final unless it is successfully challenged in court.

Mrs Sturdy, 46, said the “ill-judged decision” would “cause immeasurable long-term damage to our successful farming business and leave us with a very uncertain and difficult future”. She added: “This Labour government does not support the hard-working farmer or family business and the drive to net zero nationally and locally is destroying businesses like ours. The prospect now for other tenant farmers successfully opposing solar energy schemes is remote in the extreme.”

Mr Sturdy’s grandfather first moved to Eden Farm in 1954 and the family have produced wheat, rapeseed oil and barley in Malton, a town celebrated by chefs as Yorkshire’s food capital.

Mrs Sturdy said the couple felt anxious about their future and they were uncertain whether they would even be able to remain in their tenanted home.

They have argued that approving the scheme could lead to the loss of 42 per cent of their tenanted land, which is part of the Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation’s estate. The trust counts Lady Rees-Mogg, the wife of the former MP for North East Somerset, as a director.

The Sturdy tenancy agreement, signed in 1971, allowed for the land to pass through three generations.

Under the Harmony Energy proposal, 110 of its 240 acres would be lost to solar ­panels.

Mr Sturdy said that 60 per cent of the land earmarked for development fell into farmland designated “best and most versatile”, which is considered to have better-quality soil.

The family have just over five weeks to challenge the decision through the High Court.

They said they would consider an appeal if they found a legal basis to challenge the decision. Mrs Sturdy said: “We went into this with our eyes wide open and have ­always known that our arguments were sound in accordance with planning policy and we always hoped in our hearts that common decency and ­justice would prevail. We have no ­regrets but of course we are deeply ­disappointed.”

Harmony Energy said it was “pleased that the project can move forward following a thorough examination”.

It added: “We are committed to supporting the UK’s net zero ­transition and this decision will allow us to continue in that goal. Sites like this, located next to an existing ­substation, are crucial for enhancing energy security, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, lowering energy bills and driving job creation and economic growth, while reducing the nation’s ­reliance on foreign imports. The site has been planned to ensure that tenants can continue farming alongside the development.”

The Fitzwilliam Trust Corporation was contacted for comment. It previously said that the Sturdy family had been offered “an index-linked annual income, above and beyond statutory compensation”.

This would provide the farm business with the financial security it needed to continue farming a smaller area for the foreseeable future, it added.

The family had argued that the offer was “nowhere near enough” and would make the farm financially unviable.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government declined to comment.