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The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have welcomed changes made by the new Labour Government to finally permit new onshore wind developments in England as these mirror our own aspirations, first outlined in 2023.
Onshore wind is one of the cheapest, easiest, and quickest renewable technology to deploy to generate ‘clean’ electricity.
In February 2023, then NFLA English Forum Chair Councillor David Blackburn responded to a consultation launched by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities by calling for the ‘ban’ on new onshore wind projects in England to be lifted and for onshore wind to be treated ‘equally’ to other energy projects under the planning regime.
Although the Conservatives did notionally lift the ban, which was first imposed by Prime Minister David Cameron, this was only under pressure from party backbenchers and so it was caveated with requirements that wind power projects met onerous conditions prior to approval, making it particularly impossible to take a project forward if there was even a scintilla of public opposition.
Such conditions, specifically requirements that a project has ‘community support’ and provides ‘community benefits’, are not applicable to fossil fuel developments, such as a coal mine or fracking site, nor do they apply to new nuclear power stations; in effect their imposition has meant that England has since seen less new onshore wind projects than war-torn Ukraine.
Although the right-wing media has sought to portray onshore wind as deeply unpopular with the public, pre-election polling conducted by Savanta for the climate charity Possible found that almost 74% of more than 2,300 individuals surveyed wanted to see a speedy reversal of the effective ban; whilst less than 11% supported its continuance. This was even the prevalent view amongst supporters of the Conservative Party (70% to 19%) and Reform (58% to 24%).
Labour has made a commitment to double onshore wind generation by 2030. Now in one of his first acts as Labour’s Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has announced the removal of these conditions so placing onshore wind on the same footing as other energy developments under the National Planning Policy Framework, so making the lifting of the ban on English wind projects complete. He has also announced his intention to consult on whether to consider large windfarms as nationally significant infrastructure projects, meaning that the Minister would have the final word on approval, rather than this authority being vested in the local authority.
The English NFLAs look forward to responding to the consultation. We will also be pressing the Secretary of State to provide greater support to local authority-owned projects and community-owned energy co-operatives generating power through wind or solar technologies.
Ends://… For more information, please contact Richard Outram, NFLA Secretary by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk or by mobile phone on 07583 097793
Notes to Editors
The policy changes initiated by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on 8 July 2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/policy-statement-on-onshore-wind/policy-statement-on-onshore-wind:
Published 8 July 2024
1. Delivering our clean power mission will help boost Britain’s energy independence, save money on energy bills, support high-skilled jobs and tackle the climate crisis. We are therefore committed to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030. That means immediately removing the de facto ban on onshore wind in England, in place since 2015. We are revising planning policy to place onshore wind on the same footing as other energy development in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
2. Currently, planning policy includes two tests, set out in footnotes 57 and 58 to paragraph 163 of the NPPF, that apply only to onshore wind. Together they say that development can only be considered acceptable:
a. In areas either allocated in a development plan or through Local Development Orders, Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders. This sets a higher bar than is set for other forms of development.
b. With the narrow exception of proposals brought forward by Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders, where the proposal has proved community support. In practice this has often been interpreted to mean that any opposition means the proposal cannot be considered acceptable.
3. These policy tests no longer apply. 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.
4. These changes take effect today (8 July 2024). The government will confirm this position to Parliament on 18 July, following the State Opening. These changes will also be reflected in the forthcoming NPPF update.
5. Through that update we will go further and set our proposals for wider changes to support renewable energy development. Alongside this we will consult on bringing large onshore proposals into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime, to support quick determination, followed by a revised National Policy Statement. Local communities will play an essential part in delivering this mission and we will empower them to participate in decisions on local infrastructure. Communities should rightly benefit from hosting local renewable energy infrastructure and that is why we will shortly publish an update to the Community Benefits Protocol for Onshore Wind in England.
Annotated NPPF extract
162. In determining planning applications, local planning authorities should expect new development to:
a) comply with any development plan policies on local requirements for decentralised energy supply unless it can be demonstrated by the applicant, having regard to the type of development involved and its design, that this is not feasible or viable; and
b) take account of landform, layout, building orientation, massing and landscaping to minimise energy consumption.
163. When determining planning applications 57 for renewable and low carbon development, local planning authorities should:
a) not require applicants to demonstrate the overall need for renewable or low carbon energy, and recognise that even small-scale projects provide a valuable contribution to significant cutting greenhouse gas emissions;
b) approve the application if its impacts are (or can be made) acceptable 58. Once suitable areas for renewable and low carbon energy have been identified in plans, local planning authorities should expect subsequent applications for commercial scale projects outside these areas to demonstrate that the proposed location meets the criteria used in identifying suitable areas; and
c) in the case of applications for the repowering and life-extension of existing renewable sites, give significant weight to the benefits of utilising an established site, and approve the proposal if its impacts are or can be made acceptable.
Footnotes to paragraph 163 (no longer apply)
57 (no longer applies) Wind energy development involving one or more turbines can also be permitted through Local Development Orders, Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders. In the case of Local Development Orders, it should be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community have been appropriately addressed and the proposal has community support.
58 (no longer applies) Except for applications for the repowering and life-extension of existing wind turbines, a planning application for wind energy development involving one or more turbines should not be considered acceptable unless it is in an area identified as suitable for wind energy development in the development plan or a supplementary planning document; and, following consultation, it can be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community have been appropriately addressed and the proposal has community support.
Our original media release about the consultation can be found at: https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nfla-calls-for-equal-planning-treatment-for-onshore-wind-projects/
The letter submitted to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities by Cllr Blackburn dated 7 February read:
Planning Policy Consultation Team
Planning Directorate – Planning Policy Division
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Floor 3, Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Response by the Nuclear Free Local Authorities English Forum to the consultation on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill reforms to national planning policy.
Dear Colleagues,
I am contacting you as Chair on behalf of the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities English Forum to submit our comments to Chapter 8 – relating to Onshore Wind – of the consultation on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill reforms to national planning policy as they impact England alone.
We are living at a time of an acute energy crisis, with many British households being unable to afford fuel bills bloated by the obscene rise in gas prices, and on the brink of irreversible climate change, caused by prolonged overreliance upon fossil fuels which has had a retrograde impact on our planet and the people, fauna and flora which inhabit it. It is abundantly clear that our citizens will need to be able to access domestically generated, affordable, and reliable energy, free of Russian gas or uranium, and without the deleterious environmental impact associated with the consumption of fossil fuels.
Ending our reliance on dirty fossil fuel energy and instead moving towards a truly green energy mix based on generation through the employment of a range of renewable technologies – solar, wind, hydro, tidal, geothermal, biomass, and green hydrogen – coupled with increasing our capacity in a range of innovative storage solutions must represent the most logical way forward to provide Britain with green and affordable energy, and national energy independence. Within that mix there will be a significant part to play for onshore wind, one of the cheapest, most practical and most publicly popular of renewable energy technologies.
That onshore wind is incredibly popular across the UK can be attested to from surveys, where eight in ten people surveyed indicated support for it [2] with strong support in every constituency [3], in marked contrast to the appetite displayed by these respondents for that faux-green technology, civil nuclear, which only enjoyed half the level of support.
Onshore wind has the virtue of having a minimal carbon footprint, that associated with the manufacture, delivery, erection on site, and ongoing maintenance of the turbine, associated machinery and grid connection, but independent studies have shown that turbines generate enough energy to ‘repay’ the embodied energy within 3 – 6 months.[4] And unlike fossil fuel generation a turbine does not contribute to climate change by directly releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Consequently, whilst the average Carbon Dioxide emissions from all UK power stations, including coal, gas, nuclear and renewables, are 537 kgCO2/MWh2 that for wind-generated electricity alone over the lifespan of a turbine varies between 4.6 and 10.2 kgCO2/MWh3.[5]
The NFLA therefore totally supports the government in its intention to remove the current blanket block on new onshore wind projects in England to increase green energy generation through the expedient measure of updating the National Planning Policy Framework, but with the caveat that there should be no onerous restrictions applied to onshore wind with the removal of the blanket ban. For the government’s proposals are more restrictive than those which apply to the development of new onshore fossil fuel generators, and in some cases even nuclear fission (for example, in requiring a wind turbine to be sited with ‘support’ from a community when no such precondition is placed upon the development of a nuclear power station). This despite onshore wind having none of the environment impacts of these dirty technologies (atmospheric, watercourse and ground contamination; the potential for serious accidents; the accumulation of radioactive waste and the need for expensive post-operational decommissioning work).
Put simply these restrictions will still make it hard for new commercial businesses or not-for-profit community-led cooperatives to enter the onshore wind market, and perversely such entrants would find it easier to open a new coal mine than erect a wind turbine. The level of popularity for onshore wind suggests that most people and communities are unconcerned by their minimal aesthetic or environmental impact, but somewhat more enthusiastic for their capacity to generate clean power and for the windfall benefits that can accrue for the communities in which they are embedded, so why is there any need for wind to be subject to a separate and more onerous planning regime?
The NFLAs would therefore like to see instead new onshore wind treated in the same way as any other type of local planning application. This means removing, rather than amending, the existing Footnote 54, and ensuring that the new planning regulations are fit-for-purpose by supporting the development of new onshore wind generating capacity and helping supportive communities to build it!
Responding to the relevant questions in the consultation, the NFLAs wish to make the following statements:
Q.41: Do you agree with the changes proposed to Paragraph 155 of the existing National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)?
The NFLAs strongly wish to see the NPPF encouraging ‘repowering’, that is to say the replacement of obsolete wind turbines at the end of their operational life with more modern turbines on the same site footprint, and believes that this should be the default position with local authorities, developers and community energy groups empowered to ensure that this happens. Repowering is clearly necessary, cost-effective and beneficial. While we agree that it is useful for local plans to address repowering and that local authorities should be encouraged to do this, this local plan process might not be done more often than every five years, and local authorities may not have the time, resources or expertise to include repowering in their plans. Inclusion in a local plan therefore should not be a requirement without which repowering cannot go ahead. In addition, it is not clear what the requirement to address impacts “satisfactorily” will mean in practice, or how developers or community energy groups will demonstrate that they have met this.
Q.42: Do you agree with the changes proposed to Paragraph 158 of the existing National Planning Policy Framework?
The addition of the suggestion to approve in paragraph c) is a positive step. It is not clear what “acceptable” impacts would be in practice, or how it would be demonstrated that this bar has been cleared.
Q.43: Do you agree with the changes proposed to footnote 54 of the existing National Planning Policy Framework?
It is positive that the proposed footnotes 62 and 63 (slightly) lower the almost impassable bar for new onshore wind projects which were in the previous footnote 54. However, the redrafting still sets a higher bar for new onshore wind than for other types of energy development; still fails to provide clarity on how this bar can be cleared, and how communities or developers can show that it has been cleared; and still poses too great a barrier to the new wind power we urgently need. We are therefore concerned that this new wording would still thwart the growth of clean community energy that is needed across the UK and would still block new wind projects that have local support or prevent applications from coming forwards.
Do you have any views on specific wording for new footnote 62?
Our view is that onshore wind does not need a separate planning regime that places greater barriers on it than other types of project; to that end, we believe that this footnote should be removed rather than amended. If the footnotes remain, clarity is badly needed about what is meant by “appropriately addressed” and “satisfactorily addressed” and the level of community support which is required, and how this can be demonstrated in practice.
Please publicly record us as a respondent and notify us of the outcome of the consultation, by email to NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor David Blackburn,
Chair of the English Forum,
On behalf of the UK/Ireland NFLA Steering Committee
4. http://proceedings.ewea.org/offshore2009/allfiles2/167_EOW2009presentation.pdf
5. DECC 2014 Government Conversion Factors for Company reporting July 2014
