Ten years after the rural backlash that forced David Cameron to ban onshore wind developments, Ed Miliband is planning to resume the rollout of wind farms across the English countryside. The Telegraph has the story.
If, as expected, Labour wins the election and he becomes Energy Secretary, one of [Miliband’s] first acts will be to rewrite the planning rules that have blocked wind farm developments in England.
“Our mission involves doubling onshore wind, trebling solar, quadrupling offshore wind and backing hydrogen CCS [carbon capture and storage], nuclear and other clean energy technologies,” he told a recent conference of wind farm developers.
“We need all of these technologies…That’s why we would get started in our first weeks in office by overturning the Conservative onshore wind ban in England.”
In a campaign marked by criticism that Labour has failed to be clear on its plans, Miliband’s directness could be seen as refreshing.
But for many of those living in countryside areas protected by Mr. Cameron’s onshore wind ban, Miliband’s pledge will sound more like a threat.
Sir Keir Starmer offered a taste of what is to come in last year’s Labour party conference speech. He called Britain’s planning system “one barrier so big, so imposing that it blocks out all light from the other side” and promised to “bulldoze through it”.
Planning rules are to be rewritten to promote development and growth in general – and onshore wind in particular.
Wind turbines are about to start marching across some of our most hallowed landscapes – along with electricity pylons, solar farms, battery farms and a host of other low carbon energy developments.
Some argue that it is about time. A recent Friends of the Earth analysis suggested that lifting the planning barriers to onshore wind and solar would prompt a 13-fold increase in generation from those sources. It identified 219,800 hectares of land suitable for onshore wind, arguing that this was tiny compared with the U.K.’s overall size.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.