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Sunak (apparently) changes his mind over onshore wind farms

The Telegraph reports that Sunak "is set to overturn the ban on building new onshore wind farms to stave off a rebellion from Tory MPs."Is this a breath of fresh air (sorry about the pun) or just a weaselly move to look as though he's being sensible? As usual, the devil will be in the detail, but at least it's a glimmer of a start. Wind power is cheap and plentiful and I'd long given up on the Tories sensibly adopting more of it.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/03/rishi-sunak-overturn-onshore-wind-farm-ban/Other quick and easy moves to reduce out burning of fossil fuels would be (1) to fund insulation of people's houses, and (2) introduce an immediate 60 mph speed limit on motorways: both measures would even save people money!

Richard Carter ● 651d4 Comments

Pity the same principle does not apply to planning applications!!!

Ivonne Holliday ● 650d

The government's plans to relax planning restrictions on onshore wind farms are s..l..o..w..l..y becoming a little clearer. The Telegraph has published some material on this; it's behind their paywall so I'll post some detail below."Under the current rules, councils can only approve new sites if they can show that local concerns over their construction have been “fully addressed”.The effect of the wording is that a single objection can prevent a project from going ahead.Ministers are set to loosen the requirements so they can be built “when it has been demonstrated that the planning impacts have been satisfactorily addressed”.The new guidance will stress that developers must “act on concerns and suggestions” from residents and that councils can only approve them where “there is community support”.Under the changes, local authorities will also be given more discretion to choose where new onshore wind projects can be built within their boundaries."Which allows plenty of wriggle room for recalcitrant councils still to act to prevent more, so I'm not optimistic that the changes will be at all substantial.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/03/rishi-sunak-overturn-onshore-wind-farm-ban/

Richard Carter ● 650d

I think you can do both, Barbara.  Watch the sea and perhaps ignore the wind turbines?However, in this case meaning Sunak's views, I think it is onshore wind farms, not offshore.  We do need them for environmental and financial reasons.

Ivonne Holliday ● 651d

If I go to the coast, I would like to look out to sea, not look at wind farms.

Barbara Stevens ● 651d