The Government has ignored the recommendations of its own planning inspectorate and widespread opposition from locals to drive through the UK’s biggest solar farm projects so far.

Just days into his tenure as Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband gave the green light to the UK’s two biggest solar farms, declaring that “solar power is crucial to achieving net zero”.

“Some of these cases had been held up for months before I arrived in the department. They were put on my desk on Monday and I’ve made a decision in three days,” he said.

The new projects, which would power 400,000 homes in total, have been taken as the clearest sign yet that the government intends to drive through dozens of solar and onshore wind farms in the next few years, in many cases against stiff opposition from locals.

The biggest of the new solar farms, near the village of Gate Burton in Lincolnshire, would be the largest in the UK by some way – producing eight times as much electricity as the biggest one currently in operation, which is in Llanwern, Wales.