Climate charity Possible has raised concerns that the recently changed provisions on onshore wind in the National Planning Policy Framework still fail to permit new onshore wind projects to come forward in England.
Along with more than a dozen other organisations, it has written to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
The letter sets out concerns that the new planning regime continues to place unworkable and unnecessary restrictions on onshore wind projects.
The new national planning policy, updated in September 2023 by the government in response to public and political pressure to lift the ban on onshore wind, has failed to result in a single new application for new onshore wind in England.
The letter notes that this ongoing ban does not support the UK to achieve its vital climate targets, or to achieve the increased supply of cheap, secure energy which is vital to tackle the ongoing high cost of energy.
Possible and Community Energy England also carried out an informal survey of community energy organisations in England in November, to gather their views of the policy changes and whether the new wording would allow them to bring forward new onshore wind projects.
Of the 16 community energy organisations which responded, when asked whether they thought these changes would be sufficient to allow development of new wind projects, just one organisation answered “yes”.
The letter is signed by organisations and coalitions including Community Energy England, Uplift, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, Friends of the Earth, Sharenergy, Greenpeace UK, Regen, Fuel Poverty Action, Warm This Winter and the RSPB.
Alethea Warrington, senior campaigner at Possible, said: “The government claims to have lifted the ban on new onshore wind in England, but six months later it’s clear that they’ve done no such thing.
“Not a single new project has come forward as a result of the minor tweaks made to a planning system which remains rigged against this clean, cheap and popular source of energy.
“It’s past time to truly lift the ban so that communities across the UK which want wind can get it, cutting energy bills and carbon emissions and helping to end reliance on expensive, volatile and dirty gas.”