A READER gets in touch to call for solar panels to be banned from agricultural land.

WE are an overpopulated country and growing, so the use of agricultural land for solar panels is criminal.

We are losing good land to overdevelopment and re-wilding. We need all this land for food production.

I am a big fan of solar panels. I have had 16 on my roof for seven years and they paid for themselves in four years, so it’s win win.

They generate power even on cloudy days whereas wind turbines only work if the wind is blowing.

All towns and some villages have industrial estates with large sheds which should have solar panels on them.

Barkers department store in Northallerton has at least 300 – well done to them, but what about Tesco, Lidl, Sainsburys? Farmers’ grain stores, cattle yards and all new-build houses with south facing roofs should have them.

We should be thinking outside the box. Why not cover car parks with a structure to support the panels and park cars underneath, thus also helping to keep them cool in Summer.

Theatres, concert halls, stadiums – there are thousands of areas out there, so I hope permission is definitely refused.

W Calvert, address supplied.

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