The leader of Barnet Council faced accusations of a U-turn after denying there were plans to build solar farms in parks and open spaces.

Cllr Dan Thomas claimed a savings report hinting solar farms could be installed in “low-quality or low-value” parks and open spaces had been “misinterpreted” for “political reasons”.

But Labour and Lib Dem councillors claimed the Tory administration had backtracked after realising the suggestion – designed to save £75,000 over five years – was unpopular.

Savings proposals approved by the environment committee in November included a “review of low-quality or low-value parks and open spaces to assess the feasibility of installing renewable energy solutions such as batteries at substations and solar farms”.

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Although a reference to parks had been removed from the most recent savings plans, a council report said the proposal “may impact on access to open space sites which are under-utilised”.

Speaking during a meeting of the policy and resources committee on Monday, Cllr Ross Houston (Labour, West Finchley) asked if the change in wording marked a U-turn.

Cllr Thomas (Conservative, Finchley Church End) said it had been changed because the previous wording “was misinterpreted for what I believe to be political reasons”.

“We would never, as a borough, build on what most people would agree is the definition of an open space for solar farms, solar panels, that kind of thing, in well loved and well used parks,” the leader continued.

“The phrase ‘low-value, low-quality’ – that is a very technical phrase that describes a barren field people may walk a dog on compared to, for instance, a field that is well used for sports, recreation, has landscape gardening and all the rest of it.

“It was never meant to mean that we were going to put solar panels on fields. I think Barnet residents know that.”

But former Conservative councillor Gabriel Rozenberg (Lib Dem, Garden Suburb) said that having “dipped its toe into the water of doing something very foolish”, the administration had “reversed what it was planning to do and then claimed it never intended to do it in the first place”.

“For a £75,000 outer-year budget item, this is causing a great deal of grief to the administration,” he added. “I don’t know whey they didn’t just strike a line through this item and remove the issue full stop – or they could have made this much, much more precise in print.”

Cllr Arjun Mittra (Labour, East Finchley) said the Conservatives had “panicked and done a U-turn” after Labour launched a petition opposing the solar farm proposals.

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“The question that still remains is, your budget proposals do retain a desire to make £75,000 in funding from open spaces,” he added. “Will you now give us the list of open spaces you are planning on doing things on?”

Cllr Thomas said: “The proposal needs to be reviewed. That line said: ‘it may impact on access’. To then turn that into ‘we are going to build on parks’ is quite a big jump.”

He added: “The point the Labour Party is trying to make is just so unbelievable. I know you can tout it all you like, but residents will know what the truth is. We will just leave it at that.”