A de facto ban on onshore wind farms in England has been lifted after planning rules were dropped with immediate effect.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, had promised to remove two planning barriers announced by David Cameron in 2015, which amounted to an effective ban and saw installations grind to a halt.
Shortly after becoming prime minister, Rishi Sunak pledged to lift the ban under pressure from Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and other MPs. However, the planning changes made by his government were so modest that not a single public wind farm was submitted for planning permission last year.
Wind farm developers had faced two planning hurdles. One was that local councils had to have plans for the best sites for turbines, which they often lacked resources to draw up. The other barrier was an unclear definition of what a requirement for “community support” meant, leading companies to worry that a single local person objecting could derail a scheme.
Both those rules have now been dropped. “The removal of these tests from planning policy means that onshore wind applications will be treated in the same way as other energy development proposals,” the government said in a policy statement today. The change takes effect immediately.
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Labour sees the early lifting of the ban as a sign that it is willing to act quickly and take “difficult decisions” which it argues were ducked by the previous government. It has presented the move as a symbol of the party’s desire to kickstart growth through green technologies.
“Getting rid of this ban and giving priority for planning permission for much needed infrastructure sends an immediate signal to investors here and around the world that the UK is back in business,” Miliband said.
He will also personally decide whether new large wind farms can be built as Labour has suggested that its next step will be taking approval powers away from local councils.
Ministers will consult on including onshore wind power developments in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects system designed to fast-track essential projects.
This would mean the central government, rather than councils, will decide whether to approve projects, with the final decision being made by the energy secretary, bringing onshore wind into line with other big infrastructure projects.
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The industry body RenewableUK said that it was delighted by the “long overdue” changes. It suggested that green energy targets could be met using fewer turbines than previously thought, because modern turbines are bigger and more powerful.
Some old wind farms in England could potentially be “repowered” by replacing older, smaller turbines with new ones that produce much more energy. Repowering takes advantage of existing grid connections but requires new planning permissions, which should now be easier to gain.
The step was widely welcomed by environment groups and green-leading groups of Tories, including the Conservative Environment Network.
The climate charity Possible hailed the move as “a really positive step forward for our climate, our economy, and our energy bills”.
Some of the potential hotspots for new onshore wind turbines include Yorkshire and the Humber, Devon and Cornwall, and Lincolnshire and parts of East Anglia.
