THE RURAL UPDATE FOR ENERGY DEVELOPERS
Welcome to the Summer Energy and Land Update from Howie, Kent & Co.
In This Edition:
As we move into the second half of 2026, it's fair to say the rural sector continues to evolve at pace. From planning reforms to renewable energy opportunities and changing land use priorities, there is certainly no shortage of activity across the countryside. While the challenges facing landowners, farmers and rural businesses continue to shift, so too do the opportunities.
Client Case Study : The Journey Of Rock Farm Solar
This year is particularly special for us as Howie, Kent & Co celebrates its 10th anniversary. Looking back, we're incredibly proud of how the business has grown since 2016. What started as a small consultancy has developed into a talented team working with clients across the UK, helping them navigate change, unlock opportunities and create long-term value from their land and assets. What we’re most grateful for though is you, the people, that make Howie, Kent & Co what it is.
Land Value Tax and Renewable Development Agricultural Landscape : 2026-2027 How are Land Agreements for Energy Projects Changing? What is the True Cull Rate of Solar/Battery Projects in the Queue? 10 Years of Howie, Kent & Co
In this edition, we share updates from across the business, explore some of the key topics shaping the rural sector, and provide insights into the opportunities and challenges we're seeing on the ground. We hope you enjoy reading it. Sarah & Duncan Howie Directors of Howie, Kent & Co
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CASE STUDY From First Conversation to Construction: The Journey of Rock Farm Solar When Duncan first visited Rock Farm in October 2021 to meet with the landowner, the project was little more than an opportunity on paper. As with any renewable energy development, the conversation started with explaining the process, the potential benefits for the landowner and, most importantly, whether the project was technically viable. The first critical milestone was securing grid capacity. Without a viable grid connection, even the most suitable site cannot progress, making this one of the earliest and most important hurdles in any renewable energy project. Working alongside our client, Anglo Renewables Limited, Howie, Kent & Co was involved in the initial high-level assessment of sites in the vicinity of Ludlow Substation that could accommodate a large-scale solar development. Following the identification of a suitable site and productive discussions with the landowner, the project began to gather momentum. Fast forward to June 2026 and construction is now well underway. Anglo Renewables restructured the project, with Enviromena taking over as lead developer in summer 2025 to fund and progress the scheme from ready-to-build through to construction and operation. The project comprises a 140-acre, 40MW solar farm connected to the grid via a 33kV connection. Planning permission was secured in September 2023, marking another significant milestone in a development process that has taken several years of careful planning, negotiation and collaboration. Howie, Kent & Co has remained closely involved throughout the project. Our role included identifying the site, negotiating the commercial terms with the landowner and securing the easement required across neighbouring land to facilitate the grid connection. The successful conclusion of the easement negotiations was particularly important in ensuring the project could proceed without unnecessary delay.
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Throughout the development process, Howie, Kent & Co worked closely with James Stone, Managing Director of Anglo Renewables. "Howie, Kent & Co really helped to push this project forward with sensible commercial advice in agreeing terms with the landowners involved in this project. Especially in simplifying what could have been a relatively complicated easement negotiation," said James Stone. Renewable energy developments don’t happen overnight. They rely on strong relationships, careful negotiation and a clear understanding of both the commercial and practical challenges that arise along the way. "Rock Farm is a good example of what's possible when a development is built on strong relationships and careful groundwork. Howie, Kent & Co played an important role in getting this project to a position where Enviromena could take it forward, and their work on the commercial and easement negotiations was a key part of that. We're pleased to see construction well underway and look forward to Rock Farm supplying clean power to the grid." said Lee Adams, Chief Commercial Officer at Enviromena. Visiting the site recently and seeing the development emerge from the ground was a proud moment for everyone involved. After almost five years of work, it is incredibly rewarding to see the project progressing towards completion. We look forward to seeing Rock Farm Solar become operational and delivering clean, renewable electricity to the UK grid for many years to come.
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LAND VALUE TAX (LVT) AND RENEWABLE DEVELOPMENT This article is put together on the first day of Andy Burnham’s premiership. He is rumoured to be considering proposing a land value tax (LVT) based purely on the underlying value of the land i.e. not the buildings or structure that sits on it.
Thirdly, anyone structuring new option to lease agreements may try to have this problem picked up within the document itself i.e. push any landowner’s outgoings onto the developer and/or tenant.
As Rural Chartered Surveyors who specialise in the energy industry, we are already having conversations with worried landowners on how this could affect the land under a solar scheme, battery project or wind asset.
This potential tax could cause issues and hesitations for landowners and until it is either dropped or pushed forward, will be a possible cause for delay in getting option and lease agreements over the line. Whilst this applies for generation projects such as wind, solar and battery, the same also applies for any largescale demand projects such as datacentres, EV and EHGV charging hubs.
What exactly is he proposing and is he that intent on it? Well it transpires that he first floated the idea back in 2010, brought it up again in an LBC interview in 2022, and in May 2026 said: “I’ve long been persuaded of the argument of a land value tax. I’m personally keen to see reform of council tax, it’s a highly regressive tax”.
There is not much anyone in the industry can do until more detail comes forward from the new administration.
In his LBC interview in 2022 he stated that he thought it to be “a very productive form of taxation that could discourage land hoarding”.
How does this knock on to landowners and what concerns do they have? Firstly, the concern is that any land that is under option for a solar scheme will automatically have a significant value that could be taxed, regardless of whether the scheme comes forward or not. If this does progress or if clarity is not given there is the danger that some landowners could just stall on progressing and/or would want a significant option payment to cover them for this potential tax on land, that hasn’t as yet been utilised into an energy project. The second concern would be that their land is now significantly more valuable than it was beforehand and they will have to find the cash to pay the tax when clearly, they weren’t expecting to. There is the possibility that the capitalisation of leases prior to an implementation of any such tax would be one option that landowners would progress. i.e. they would take a lump sum now and gift the right of income to a buyer of such an asset.
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AGRICULTURAL UPDATE FOR ENERGY DEVELOPERS For those working with farmers and rural landowners, understanding today's agricultural landscape has never been more important. The farming industry has always been shaped by the weather, commodity prices and changing markets, but the rest of 2026 and 2027 present a unique combination of challenges. Government policy, environmental regulation, volatile costs, extreme weather and tax reform are all influencing how farmers make decisions about the future of their businesses.
Input Costs The last six months have seen a significant spike in input costs for both red diesel and fertiliser. This is incredibly frustrating to all farmers but particularly arable and dairy, as the tightening of world supplies on oil due to President Trump's Iranian war is not knocking through onto higher incomes on cereal and milk prices. With such strong increases on input costs and uncertainty on the future commodities market for their income, many arable farmers are seriously questioning whether they drill land with winter crops next year. This is not really an option for many tenanted farmers where they are paying a rent on the land. The luxury of a fallow year is not a possibility.
The Weather 2025 saw large swathes of central England experience a drought unparalleled for several years. This saw reduced outputs on arable farms and for the livestock sector, saw increased costs on purchase feeds. It was widely hoped that 2026 would see a rebalancing of forage stocks on livestock farms. However, this is not turning out to be the case. We are currently seeing a second drought year. This is causing many businesses to significantly reevaluate their systems, stocking rate and ultimately many are questioning the long-term viability of their farming units.
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Tax In December 2025 the government gave a key concession on its removal of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) under inheritance tax. The original proposal was for a halving of the relief for any property over £2,000,000. This meant any asset value over £2,000,000 would be taxed at 20%. The government's concession was to allow an inter spouse transfer of the relief, effectively meaning for a family farm where husband and wife use the exemption to pass on to their offspring, they would have a combined relief of £4,000,000. Whilst this sounds like a solution that would mean most farming businesses will not be hit, the reality is for any farming business of reasonable size, inheritance tax is now a looming problem. Let's assume a modest dairy farm of 300 cows and 400 acres of land owned by the family. The working capital of the parlour, tractors, silage in the clamp, value in the cows, let alone the land would be significant. There could easily be £600,000 of value just in the milking cow herd and their replacement heifers. It's also entirely possible that at any time they could have £200,000 worth of silage in the clamp. Including a farmhouse, the total value could easily be pushing on to £7m, meaning a £600,00 tax bill. For farming families that are working an hourly rate below the minimum wage and often not making a profit at all, the long term viability of their family farming business is being called into question. From the perspective of a rural land agent this also creates problems on the date of death with regards to the inheritance tax valuation, and how quickly this can be carried out. All factors that have never needed to be thought of before with rural valuations.
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GRID REFORM How are Land Agreements for Energy Projects Changing? The dust is beginning to settle on the connection reform process, as Gate 2 offers are now being received. Early indications suggest that grid costs are higher than many anticipated, and there remains ongoing uncertainty around project delivery due to grid constraints. The situation isn’t perfect but we’re starting to see the future of solar and wind development in the UK become a little clearer. Grid is likely to remain a long-term play, but there are still development opportunities for certain types of renewable projects in specific regions. This affects deal structuring with landowners as there is far more uncertainty surrounding a developers ability to secure a grid connection. In addition, it is likely to take much longer to obtain confirmation that grid capacity is available. How does this affect agreements with landowners?
Option Payments With these longer option periods, landowners are increasingly seeking higher option fees; however, such increases are not always justified. In some cases, landowners tend to focus primarily on maximising returns during the option period, rather than considering the overall value and long- term success of the project once constructed. Large-scale wind projects, in particular, require millions of pounds of upfront investment to progress through the planning system, and while demand for suitable sites remains strong, it is critical to partner with a developer that has the necessary capital and risk appetite. In our experience, the most successful projects are those where landowners and their agents recognise the developer as a long-term partner, with a shared objective of securing planning consent and grid connection, rather than treating the project as an opportunity to extract excessive option fees or upfront exclusivity payments. There is, of course, a place for higher payments on exceptional sites particularly those with strong grid proximity, but such opportunities are increasingly rare. The reality is that most largescale sites, particularly for wind, are becoming more limited, and developers are being required to take on greater planning risk in more marginal locations.
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Long Option Periods Reflect Grid Delays Prior to connection reform, solar and wind developers typically instructed us to secure option agreements of three to five years, with small extensions to accommodate potential delays in grid connection dates and to allow time to secure construction funding. However, following Clean Power 2030 and the connection reform process, developers have faced significant challenges, including substantial increases in grid costs and connection dates being pushed out to 2036 and beyond their original option periods. As a result, unless agreements can be renegotiated with landowners, many projects risk expiring due to a lack of secured land rights. Going forward, most clients are now instructing us to negotiate option agreements with much longer long-stop dates, potentially up to 13 years, to provide greater certainty around the grid connection window. This approach is particularly relevant for very large- scale wind projects but is generally less critical for smaller-scale schemes (sub 5MW), including grid-connected or private wire/PPA (power purchase agreement) projects.
Co-Location Co-location is now standard. Even where a solar or battery project doesn’t have an immediate requirement for storage, we are increasingly seeing the inclusion of battery storage within the heads of terms as a matter of course;- something that is far more common than it was two or three years ago. The main picture is that there are still plenty of developers out there looking to acquire land, however, some of the best sites are already under option. The market remains fast-moving, and opportunities still exist, but both landowners and developers need to be prepared for a long-term commitment and be ready to navigate the uncertainties associated with the grid connection process.
Grid is Key Grid costs are no longer an afterthought; they are now a key consideration in developers’ decision making at an early stage. Many projects are yet to receive their Gate 2 offers and lack clear visibility on their eventual point of connection, especially where the construction of new super grid transformers may be required.
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WHAT IS THE TRUE CULL RATE OF SOLAR/BATTERY PROJECTS IN THE QUEUE? The grid reform clean power 2030 programme was designed to see projects ‘accelerating’ through the grid connection process to bring forward delivery of projects on a ‘first ready first connected’ basis. From the perspective of all of our developer clients, and this is only anecdotal from what Howie, Kent and Co sees and hears, project acceleration would be the polar opposite of what is actually happening. We emphasise that HK&Co specialise in land assembly, site acquisition and deal structuring for all types of energy projects, both export and demand, and that we are not grid consultants. However, increasing grid costs, further updated curtailment reports and uncertainties from the District Network Operators (DNOs ) and at Transmission level are giving developers and investors serious cause for concern. The government's Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (Dec 2024) indicated the UK will require around 45–47GW of solar capacity by 2030. There was already 17GW installed so we needed to find another circa 30GW. At the same time, industry data suggested there was well over 100GW of solar capacity in the connection queue, with some estimates placing the figure considerably higher, meaning these projects would either push back to post 2030 or die. We can therefore assume that NESO (National Energy System Operator) must have thought that that one in three solar connections would connect pre 2030.
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What’s going to happen and what is happening? What we are seeing with both battery and solar projects is that an increasing number are now coming under serious scrutiny from developers and investors alike. Grid costs, changing assumptions and uncertainty around connection dates are forcing difficult decisions. In some cases, projects that looked viable only 12 to 24 months ago are now being reassessed entirely. Several large-scale battery and solar schemes we’re involved in have already been dropped, including some that were well progressed through the development process. While not all had secured planning consent, some had, highlighting the scale of the possible failure rate. Based on our experience with clients, our gut feeling is that the cull of projects from the connection queue is likely to be significant, although the scale remains impossible to quantify at this stage. However, we would bet that its now going to be far greater than NESO thought. The key advice we continue to give developers is to maintain open and honest conversations with their landowning partners. Where challenges arise, communicate them early, deliver bad news quickly and keep stakeholders informed throughout the process. As the market works through these changes, transparency and realistic expectations will be more important than ever.
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CELEBRATING 10 YEARS AT HOWIE, KENT & CO
This year marks an important milestone for Howie, Kent & Co as we celebrate our tenth anniversary. What began as a small consultancy founded by Sarah and Duncan has grown into a trusted team supporting landowners, farmers and rural businesses across the UK. Over the last decade, we've had the privilege of helping clients navigate significant change, from planning and diversification opportunities to renewable energy projects and wider rural business challenges.
“Ten years ago, Duncan and I started Howie, Kent & Co with a simple ambition: to provide honest, practical advice and build a business people enjoyed working with. What we never imagined was just how many incredible people we'd meet along the way. Many clients have become close friends and that's something we're enormously grateful for." Sarah Howie
As we look ahead, we would like to thank everyone who has placed their trust in us over the last ten years. We remain committed to providing the practical, independent advice that has been at the heart of the business since day one and look forward to supporting clients through the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
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