Never have such competing demands been placed on the countryside. The Government aims to protect 30% of land and sea for biodiversity by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and to build 300,000 new homes a year. Furthermore, the NPPF now gives greater protection to agricultural land for the purposes of food production. Meanwhile, the desire to protect our valued landscape remains top of the priority list – no bad thing – but how do we best do it?

To add a level of complexity, the countryside as we know it is changing. Recent years has seen an unprecedented frequency of extreme weather up and down the country. Once unpredictable, flooding is now predictable. Drought and wildfires are becoming more common, creating increasingly hostile conditions for the flora and fauna which are so fundamental to the rural character of the countryside and so often some of the most valued features by the communities who enjoy them.

The state of delayed action and failure to act on large-scale environmental issues is affecting our countryside today, just look at what’s happening with the River Wye!

So, what’s the answer? Often criticised under the banner of protecting the environment, renewable energy and energy transmission must be front and centre.

Take large scale solar farms for instance – a single development that can provide clean energy for homes and businesses, rest exhausted soils, provide income to the rural economy, provide energy security, enhance recreational access and create opportunity for widescale nature restoration. Not to mention contribute to slowing the effects of climate change that, if unchecked, will relegate our green and pleasant land to a memory of a by-gone era.

And yet it is concern for the environment that so often stands in the way. Take the recently dismissed solar scheme in Gayton, Northamptonshire. This 70ha scheme was recommended for approval by the planning inspector who recognised there would be harm to the landscape character and appearance of the area, but applied great weight to the significant ecological benefits and renewable energy that would be delivered by the scheme. Not uncommonly in recent times, the appeal was later dismissed by a minister who decided that the environmental and ecological benefits of the scheme did not outweigh the harm to heritage assets and landscape.

Not only has this decision denied 49.7-megawatts of clean energy for the grid, enough to power 13,000 homes, but it has dismissed a scheme that would deliver 195% Biodiversity Net Gain. The decision has deprived us of a scheme that is essential to meeting 2050 net zero targets, a crucial metric we need to meet to safeguard the future of our countryside as we know it.

If such decisions continue under the banner of environmental protection, it could be argued the countryside that we value today won’t be there much longer…