🌄 Whitestone 2: The Solar Megaproject That Would Destroy a Valley — For Almost No Winter Power

Standing on Morthen Lane, overlooking the peaceful sweep of fields that fall gently into the Uley Brook valley, you can feel what’s at stake.This landscape is open, beautiful, and quintessentially South Yorkshire — rolling farmland, hedgerows shaped by generations, and long sightlines reaching across to the Penny Hill turbines on the horizon.It is a landscape worth protecting.And now, it is under the greatest threat it has ever faced.

🟥 A Solar Scheme So Big It Swallows Villages

The developer calls it “Whitestone”.Residents call it what it is: a mega-industrial land grab.The official project maps show a sprawl of red and blue blocks stretching across the countryside from Upper Whiston, around Morthen, across to Thurcroft, and down toward Swallownest and the A57.This is not a farm-scale proposal.This is a landscape takeover.Whitestone 2 alone covers hundreds of hectares across the valley where my photos were taken.Together with Whitestone 1 and the surrounding parcels, it becomes one of the largest solar industrial sites ever attempted in the UK.And every inch of it is green, living, productive farmland.

🌾 A Beautiful Valley Under Siege

The photos tell the truth developers won’t: This is not “low-value land”.This is not “visually contained”.This is not “low sensitivity landscape”.From Morthen Lane, the entire valley is visible —and everything the developer wants to cover with black glass would dominate your view.

You can see:

✅ Long open ridgelines

✅ Productive farmland stretching for miles

✅ Hedgerows and wildlife corridors

✅ The natural slope feeding into Uley Brook

✅ Penny Hill turbines already pressing on the skyline

Add Whitestone 2, and this peaceful valley becomes an industrial energy zone.No screening will ever hide it.No mitigation will make this acceptable.Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

🌦️ And for what? Almost Nothing in Winter.

The Whitestone site sits in northern England — where:In December–January, solar output collapses to 2–3% of peak.At 4pm, when demand hits maximum, solar output is effectively zero.Rain, fog, cloud, and short days make winter solar close to nonexistent. Imagine covering over 2,000 hectares of farmland across Rotherham and Doncaster…for energy that disappears precisely when we need it most.Whitestone will not heat a single home on a freezing January night.It will not keep the grid stable during a winter cold snap.It will not stop blackouts.It will simply turn our countryside into an industrial desert —while delivering no winter energy security whatsoever.This is ideology, not engineering.And communities know it.

🚫 Communities Are Rising Up — And Now Rotherham Council Has TooYesterday, something extraordinary happened.Rotherham Council passed a formal motion objecting to Whitestone.Cross-party.Unanimous in spirit.Clear in message.They declared:Whitestone has no support from the CouncilThe proposal should be withdrawn or massively scaled backCommunities have serious concernsThe project threatens farmland, footpaths, roads, wildlife, and rural characterOver 60 rights of way would be disruptedLocal people do not want itThe scale is unacceptableThis is not just a political embarrassment for the developer.This is a turning point.When residents, councillors, farmers, walkers, local businesses, and entire villages stand together —you know a line has been crossed.

🛑 Whitestone Is Not “Renewables”. It’s Reckless Land Industrialisation.

This scheme offers no meaningful winter power.It destroys farmland during a food security crisis.It trenches through hedgerows and biodiversity corridors.It overwhelms a precious valley.It industrialises the setting of Upper Whiston, Morthen, and Aston.It burdens narrow roads with HGVs for years.It adds to cumulative impacts from Penny Hill and surrounding infrastructure.It offers no local value — only local damage.And now, even the Council says enough.

✊ This Valley Deserves Protection — Not Exploitation

When I stood on Morthen Lane taking those photos, the truth was clear:

This is a place of beauty.A place of meaning.A place worth fighting for.Our countryside is not a blank canvas for corporate energy speculation.It is part of who we are.And once it is covered in steel, glass, and cabling, it will never return.Whitestone 2 is the line in the sand.Rotherham has said no.Residents have said no.It’s time the developer listened.If we do not speak up now, the valley will fall silent forever.

Shane Oxer — Campaigner for fairer and affordable energy