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Onshore wind farm developers have been urged to deepen their engagement with local communities after a new report revealed that planning approval rates for new wind farms have sunk to an all-time low of just 42 per cent.
The latest State of the Industry report (PDF) from trade association RenewableUK shows that approval rates for new onshore wind farms in the UK fell by 11 per cent to 42 per cent in 2010/11.
Meanwhile, the average amount of time projects wait for planning approval increased from 24 to 33 months.
In England alone, approval rates fell from 33 per cent last year to what RenewableUK regards as a "critically low" level of 26 per cent in 2010/11.
The figures sparked fresh fears of a gap in the UK's renewable energy project pipeline over the next few years, despite the fact that last year saw an increase in the number of new wind farms coming online.
The report confirms that 44 projects totalling 985MW of capacity went operational across the UK last year, an improvement of almost 20 per cent on 2009/10.
Gordon Edge, director of policy at RenewableUK, told reporters at the organisation's annual conference in Manchester today that some developers are not maximising their chances of gaining planning approval by failing adequately to engage with local communities, and in some cases failing to ensure that projects are economically viable before applying for consent.
He added that other common barriers to gaining planning consent include radar objections from aviation authorities, concerns over transportation of equipment to the site, and failure to ensure timely grid connections for new wind farms.
Edge urged developers to increase efforts to "proactively engage" with local communities, to ensure that objections put forward by opposition groups are minimised and receive an adequate response.
"I'm hoping that we've had enough wake up calls in the industry that our members will really be taking seriously issues they have to deal with on the ground," he said.
"I've always thought the localism agenda could be very dangerous [for wind farm developers] but is also a really good opportunity for us to raise our game and win the arguments.
Onshore wind farm developers have been urged to deepen their engagement with local communities after a new report revealed that planning approval rates for new wind farms have sunk to an all-time low of just 42 per cent.
The latest State of the Industry report (PDF) from trade association RenewableUK shows that approval rates for new onshore wind farms in the UK fell by 11 per cent to 42 per cent in 2010/11.
Meanwhile, the average amount of time projects wait for planning approval increased from 24 to 33 months.
In England alone, approval rates fell from 33 per cent last year to what RenewableUK regards as a "critically low" level of 26 per cent in 2010/11.
The figures sparked fresh fears of a gap in the UK's renewable energy project pipeline over the next few years, despite the fact that last year saw an increase in the number of new wind farms coming online.
The report confirms that 44 projects totalling 985MW of capacity went operational across the UK last year, an improvement of almost 20 per cent on 2009/10.
Gordon Edge, director of policy at RenewableUK, told reporters at the organisation's annual conference in Manchester today that some developers are not maximising their chances of gaining planning approval by failing adequately to engage with local communities, and in some cases failing to ensure that projects are economically viable before applying for consent.
He added that other common barriers to gaining planning consent include radar objections from aviation authorities, concerns over transportation of equipment to the site, and failure to ensure timely grid connections for new wind farms.
Edge urged developers to increase efforts to "proactively engage" with local communities, to ensure that objections put forward by opposition groups are minimised and receive an adequate response.
"I'm hoping that we've had enough wake up calls in the industry that our members will really be taking seriously issues they have to deal with on the ground," he said.
"I've always thought the localism agenda could be very dangerous [for wind farm developers] but is also a really good opportunity for us to raise our game and win the arguments.
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