Campaigners opposing the roll out of three more huge solar farms across the East Riding are warning of a “solar tsunami” as they continue their relentless advance.

They say Beverley “will be surrounded” if revised plans by PS Renewables and Danish multinational Ørsted, announced this week, for the 500MW Clear Air Solar Farm to go through.

Consultation will take place in June. But many feel powerless as large solar farms are classified as "nationally significant infrastructure" (NSIP) removing decision-making from local councils into the hands of an individual minister.

The project is divided into two areas, with the southern earmarked for farmland between the villages of Walkington, Little Weighton and Skidby, southwest of Beverley and the A1079.

File pic: Campaigner Caroline Grant of Aughton, East Yorkshire, with her daughter Alexandria by a footpath outside the hamlet of Latham - it is feared the field in the background will become part of the solar farm. Picture: James Hardisty. Date: 17th July 2025.

placeholder image — File pic: Campaigner Caroline Grant of Aughton, East Yorkshire, with her daughter Alexandria by a footpath outside the hamlet of Latham - it is feared the field in the background will become part of the solar farm. Picture: James Hardisty. Date: 17th July 2025.

During consultation last year hundreds of people objected to the development of 2,250 acres of the northern tranche near Hutton Cranswick – it was called Kingfisher Solar at the time - close to the already built 50MW Scurf Dyke scheme.

Meanwhile this July, a decision is expected on RWE's proposals for the 3,200-acre Pear Tree Hill development between Long Riston and Wawne. Arms of the giant solar farm stretch to Weel, just a mile from Beverley, and Tickton, two miles away.

Another area which is taking a battering is Howdenshire.

Last year Lord Hunt gave consent to Boom Power to turn an area of agricultural land the size of Durham into another massive 400MW solar farm between Gribthorpe, Spaldington, Wressle and Howden.

One of four mega solar farms proposed for the East Riding is RWE's Peartree Hill project, outlined in blue. It has still yet to be approved but other projects outlined in red already have.

An even larger project, the 500MW Mylen Leah solar farm, which is causing anxiety to many in the rural communities of Latham, Melbourne, Aughton, Foggathorpe, Seaton Ross, Leybourn and East Cottingwith, moves to the consultation stage in June.

At 3,000 acres, it is only a shade smaller than Boom Power’s 3,500 acre consented farm – together taking up around the land of 30 average UK farms (of 217 acres).

East Riding Cabinet member Victoria Aitken has repeatedly called on the government to prioritise solar on brownfield, rather than targeting open countryside.

She said: “No community should be expected to absorb four industrial-scale solar proposals at once.

Formerly known as Kingfisher the 320MW scheme has now been expanded to include a huge tranche of land near Walkington and Little Weighton, south west of Beverley

"The cumulative impact on our farmland, our landscape and our way of life is overwhelming.”

George McManus, from East Riding Against Solar Expansion, said: "We've been warning about this for some time. If Mylean Leah gets approval, Foggathorpe will be an island surrounded in black plastic, glass and steel frames. If Pear Tree Hill and Clean Air are approved, Beverley will be surrounded.”

He said the private investment in solar projects was encouraged as there’s no upfront cost to the taxpayer but claimed “further down the line the billpayer will pick up the tab. This won’t be cheap energy to produce, there will be such slumps and peaks, and it’s all traded on a world energy market anyway.” Of nearly 30 NSIP applications across the country decided since July 2024, only one has been refused, according to Lincolnshire County Council.