A council has given support for installing solar panels on rooftops of commercial buildings as a best practice, rather than farmland being ‘eaten up’ by the sprawling renewable energy developments.

Conservative councillor Clive Hallam (Earls Barton) presented the motion to a North Northants Council (NNC) meeting on Thursday, March 6.

The motion called on the authority to investigate creating requirements in its planning policy for developers to incorporate solar panels on top of large-scale buildings and warehouses.

He said that members had long been questioned about why solar farms were being developed on arable land when acres of commercial buildings are left without PV panels installed on their roofs.

Cllr Hallam told the chamber: “It’s an understandable concern.

“The last thing we want to do is put off any commercial businesses from coming into the area… but we do want to start to maximise the benefits of this technology.”

He explained that the motion would act as a ‘stake in the ground’ to direct officers involved in the planning process to make solar on rooftops an important part of their requirements rather than an ‘afterthought’.

The motion calls on NNC to look at what can be put into the region’s Local Plan, which is currently being prepared, to encourage rooftop solar and aspire to a wider ambition of using council buildings for PV panels.

Green Party councillor Emily Fedorowycz (Clover Hill) described the move towards putting solar panels on roof space as a ‘no-brainer’ and praised it as a way to prevent farmland from being ‘eaten up’ by solar projects.

An amendment tabled by Reform UK asked for stronger assurances that the policy changes would be pursued. It included asking for work to be carried out within specific timescales, the production of a business case and a formal update on the progress within 12 months.

NNC chairman, Cllr Lora Lawman, rejected their changes before they were debated as she deemed the requests would impact council resources.

Cllr Kirk Harrison (Reform, Irthlingborough) accused the original motion of being ‘vague’ and ‘woolly’, but said he was inclined to support it as his party’s amendment had been thrown out.

Executive member for climate and green environment, Cllr Helen Harrison, added: “I think there’s probably almost nobody in this room who hasn’t said why on earth are we not putting solar panels on our roofs, so this is a really good step forward.”

The motion was carried with overwhelming support, having received 54 votes in favour and just one abstention.