Isra-Mart srl:Wind industry warns Localism bill could spark yet more planning delays

www.isra-mart.com

Isra-Mart srl news:

The government's controversial Localism bill received its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday and looks set to move to the committee stage before the end of the month, despite growing fears that the legislation will result in serious delays to renewable energy projects and make it far easier for Nimby groups to oppose new wind farm proposals.

Speaking yesterday, communities secretary Eric Pickles hailed the bill as a radical piece of legislation that will "give councils the power and the authority they need to make sensible decisions for the area" and provide people with "new rights, new powers, new opportunities to act on the issues that matter to them".

But concerns are mounting across the UK's wind energy sector that the proposals represent a so-called Nimby charter that will allow councils to delay and oppose planning applications for new renewable energy projects, making it harder for the country to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meet its renewable energy targets.

"We knew it was coming," admits one industry insider. "But that does not mean it is not worrying. We are trying to make it clear to government that there are some potential consequences to this bill that need addressing."

Their comments were echoed by Dale Vince, founder of green energy provider and wind farm developer Ecotricity, who warned that the bill looks like "a potential nightmare for getting anything actually built in Britain".

He argued the bill's scrapping of the Infrastructure Planning Commission would serve to politicise planning decisions for large projects, a scenario that he reckons is likely to result in lots of fast-tracked nuclear power stations (supported by subsidies by another name) – and the refusal of a lot of wind farms.

A spokeswoman for trade association RenewableUK offered a more conciliatory tone, arguing that efforts to get local communities more involved in planning decisions could prove beneficial to the industry. But she acknowledged that people within the sector were concerned about aspects of the bill.

"The planning regime has been an issue for wind farm developers for a long time and we would welcome anything that makes people feel more connected to developments in their area," she said. "But there are concerns that some aspects of the bill could result in renewable energy development being stymied by a small minority."

In particular, plans for Neighbourhood Forums that would help shape the planning regime in an area are causing concerns amongst some developers after it emerged they could be formed by just three people choosing to "constitute" themselves as a forum.

"We want to make sure that these forums are actually representative of the community," said the RenewableUK spokeswoman, claiming that currently the bill would allow people to create a neighbourhood forum as long as they "wanted to live in the area".

As a result, wind farm developers are concerned anti-wind farm groups could set up Neighbourhood Forums in an attempt to oppose new developments.

In addition, the bill allows for councils and councillors to instigate a local referendum on any local issue, including a planning decision. The proposal is broadly supported by the renewable energy sector, but concerns remain that the long time frame allowed for referendums to be organised could lead to further delays in planning decisions.

"Under the current plans you could have six months to get signatures of five per cent of the population to trigger the referendum and then up to 12 months to organise the referendum," explained the spokeswoman. "That is a huge potential risk for developers."

Juliet Davenport, chief executive of green energy provider and wind farm operator Good Energy, agreed that delays to planning decisions of up to 18 months would be a "nightmare" for developers, particularly given recent figures showing the average wind farm planning application in the UK already has to wait 27 months for a decision.