SENEDD Members debated calls for a temporary ban on “monstrous” solar developments, warning the countryside, food security and Welsh farmers could all be compromised.

Janet Finch-Saunders said hundreds of acres of agricultural land across Wales will otherwise be switched from a focus on food production to electricity generation.

The shadow climate secretary accused UK and Welsh ministers of turning the countryside into “meadows of metal and glass” by approving “huge, controversial” developments

Leading a Conservative debate on June 11, Ms Finch-Saunders called for a moratorium on all applications to place solar panels on agricultural land.

She said: “Such a pause will enable this parliament to develop a solar strategy for Wales, looking at where we want those panels to be placed and where they are made.”

Criticising plans for solar on Anglesey, she told the Senedd: “I think we’re quite united on these monstrosities; these huge schemes are not what are in the interests of Wales.”

Plaid Cymru’s Luke Fletcher supported the principle but called for a nuanced approach, describing the Conservative motion as “too blunt” and warning of unfair consequences.

He said: “If an individual farmer wanted to install a modest number of solar panels on their own land, perhaps to power their farm, cut emissions or generate a little extra income, they’d be prevented from doing so. Now, that simply doesn’t make sense.”

Peter Fox, the Tory council leader-turned-Senedd Member, warned of a lack of a national solar strategy to guide investment, regulation and grid integration.

He urged the Welsh Government to look at more innovative options, such as the rooftops of public buildings, rather than “needlessly building over good farmland throughout Wales”.

Mr Fox, a farmer, said: “We cannot simply sell parts of Wales’s natural beauty off to the highest bidder, for it to be used simply as an investment.”

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth also called for a strategy, describing solar as “another example of that extraction that has been characteristic of Wales’ industrial history”.

He said: “In that vacuum without a strategy, these major corporations step in and see how they can make their millions from our landscape, agricultural land and our communities.”

Conservative Gareth Davies warned replacing farmers with an array of solar panels built from polluting factories, largely in China, risks undermining the principle of sustainability.

Plaid Cymru’s Peredur Owen Griffiths and Labour’s John Griffiths raised concerns about plans for solar farms on the Gwent levels, potentially the size of a thousand rugby pitches.

Mr Griffiths welcomed recent changes to Planning Policy Wales which “offer much greater protection through the planning system against some of these large-scale solar farms”.

Rebecca Evans, responding for the Welsh Government, said solar plays an important part in an ambition to host enough green energy to meet electricity consumption by 2035.

The economy secretary explained that there are more than 86,000 solar projects across Wales, making up about 15% of total renewable energy generation.

Ms Evans argued national planning policy already includes a “clear commitment” to protecting agricultural land when considering applications.

Senedd Members voted 23-13 against the Tory motion, with ten abstaining. The Welsh Government’s “delete-all” amendment was also defeated, 24-23.

THE RAPID and largely unregulated proliferation of battery storage developments is becoming an urgent safety issue in many parts of Wales, a Senedd Member warned.

Plaid Cymru’s Llŷr Gruffydd said he is not opposed to battery energy storage systems (BESS), recognising it as “vital” infrastructure in the “national mission” to reach net zero.

But the Plaid Cymru politician warned of risks to people’s safety “in a rush to deliver developments without the proper scrutiny they deserve”.

He told the Senedd: “For BESS to truly serve Wales’s net-zero goals, development must be guided by strong planning policy, strong safety standards and, of course, strong and meaningful community engagement.

“Projects should be well sited, they should be transparent and designed with public trust in mind. In a nutshell: BESS technology isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity for a net-zero Wales.”

Leading a debate on June 4, Mr Gruffydd said: “Clean energy and smart infrastructure must be encouraged but a careful balance needs to be struck. Too often, communities are an afterthought in this conversation – this energy transition needs to put people first.”

He warned most of the proposed projects are not happening in remote industrial parks. “They’re being planned within metres of homes, schools and places of work,” he said.

“And the concerns raised by local residents aren’t nimbyism [not in my back yard] – they’re real, evidence-based fears, particularly around thermal runaway fires, which have caused serious incidents in countries around the world.”

Mr Gruffydd, who chairs the Senedd climate committee, raised the example of a fire at Moss Landing, one of the world’s largest BESS facilities in California, in January.

He told Senedd Members: “The fire destroyed approximately 80% of the batteries… and led to the evacuation of around 1,500 residents due to concerns over toxic smoke emissions.”

He explained that thermal runaway can cause large, long-lasting fires which, in some cases around the world, have taken millions of litres of water to extinguish.

Mr Gruffydd said some of the technology used at Moss Landing is identical to what is proposed in many of the 80-plus BESS developments under consideration in Wales.

He cautioned that in places like Northop and Gwyddelwern in his north Wales region, communities face plans for installations only 35 to 120 metres from some homes.

The politician emphasised: “We can’t build public confidence in this technology unless we put transparency and safety at the heart of how it’s planned and how it’s delivered.

“The urgency of decarbonisation is real – we all feel it – but we mustn’t let that urgency override the need for caution and care.”

Mr Gruffydd said the Ynni Celyn scheme in Gwyddelwern would house millions of batteries across nearly 1,000 shipping containers on a 75-acre greenfield site near the small village.

He warned: “A fire at that site would pose a serious risk to the River Dee catchment which, of course, provides drinking water for over one million people and the environmental consequences there could be quite devastating.

“Now, we can’t ask residents to simply hope that nothing goes wrong. That isn’t good enough, is it? Developers and government must guarantee safety – no exceptions.”

Mr Gruffydd urged Welsh ministers to move away from a “hub-and-spoke” model to a “spider’s web” approach to spread infrastructure more evenly and fairly across Wales.

He called for a temporary halt on large-scale BESS projects given the risks, oversight gaps and deep community concern. “A moratorium gives us time to do things right,” he said.

Responding for the Welsh Government, Rebecca Evans told the Senedd energy storage has an important part to play in the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Wales’ economy secretary said decisions on appropriate locations for battery developments are made through local planning processes under national ‘Planning Policy Wales’ guidance.

She said: “Planning applications are subject to consultation with key stakeholders, and the fire and rescue authorities are consulted on major development proposals.

“The planning system is able to prevent and mitigate potential harm resulting from the development proposals by imposing conditions on planning permissions.”

Ms Evans, who is responsible for energy and planning as well as the economy, would not comment on specific proposals to avoid prejudicing appeals which could land on her desk.

SENEDD Members warned Wales is playing catch-up after the Welsh Government took more than seven years to bring forward a bill to plug gaps in environmental protections.

Delyth Jewell expressed concerns about delays in introducing the environment bill which aims to reverse nature loss, with one in six species now at risk of extinction in Wales.

Plaid Cymru’s shadow climate secretary said: “For years, Wales has been behind the curve and we’ve been an unfortunate exception in terms of environmental governance.”

Gaps arising from Brexit left Wales with the weakest environmental governance structures in western Europe, according to the Wales Environment Link charity.

The bill would establish the “long-awaited” Office of Environmental Governance Wales (OEGW) to check public bodies’ environmental performance and hold them to account. Similar bodies were set up in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England in 2021.

In 2018, then-climate secretary Julie James committed to legislation to address the governance gap at the “first opportunity”. Ministers declared a climate emergency in 2019 before appointing an interim environmental protection assessor in 2021.

Ms Jewell, who represents South Wales East, told the Senedd: “At last, I welcome the fact that we’re now bridging that gap… the need for targets for nature is clear.”

She said: “All of us will want to counter the risk of fine words and good intentions paving the way to a hellscape devoid of those things that make our world diversified, rich and beautiful.”

If passed by the Senedd, the bill would establish a framework for targets on biodiversity and enable the public to challenge public authorities on environmental issues.

Ms Jewell supported calls for headline targets and timeframes, with much of the detail – which is not included in the bill itself – set to follow in regulations.

Giving a statement on June 3 introducing the “landmark, forward-thinking” bill, Labour’s Huw Irranca-Davies said: “It has never been more important to restore nature, mitigate climate change and preserve the natural environment for future generations.

“This legislation forms a critical part of our future approach to doing just that.”

The Deputy First Minister, who is also climate secretary, told Senedd Members: “We may be behind other UK nations but actually we’ve been able to learn the lessons from them.”

Janet Finch-Saunders, the Conservatives’ shadow climate secretary, warned Wales has been lagging on setting biodiversity targets. “This is, I feel… too little, too late,” she said.

She told the Senedd that Wales ranks 224th out of 240 countries on the National History Museum’s biodiversity index, saying: “We’re amongst the lowest 10% in the world”.

Ms Finch-Saunders called for a sense of urgency from ministers as she expressed concerns about a lack of detail in the “very vague” environment bill.

“I would like to encourage the cabinet secretary to ensure that this bill is not rushed through because you’ve left it rather late,” she said.

Mr Irranca-Davies explained the bill goes further in some areas than in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, citing the example of a power to enforce urgent compliance.

“It’s not that we’ve been doing nothing,” he stressed, pointing to planned changes to farming subsidies, clean air legislation, nature restoration grants, planning and transport reforms.

But he accepted: “We do now need to proceed with urgency… to refine and craft this.”

His Labour colleague Jenny Rathbone said: “We do need to get on with it,” warning Wales has, for example, been without a body to prosecute builders failing to install boxes for swifts.

Conservative Samuel Kurtz warned the bill could serve as a “backdoor” to further obligations on farmers of Wales – even for those who opt out of the sustainable farming scheme.

Mr Irranca-Davies replied: “Yes, the targets will be binding… for a long time, a wide range of stakeholders have called – in fact we heard it from your own benches – [on us] to get on with this… and yes, of course, it’s binding.”

He said the environmental body would be established two weeks after the bill receives royal assent but cautioned “it will take time to put in place” due to appointments and logistics.

In 2023, the Senedd’s climate committee – which Mr Irranca-Davies was then a member of – warned it would be an “unforgivable failure” if the body was not fully operational in 2026.