UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has confirmed that onshore wind planning policy is to be brought in line with other infrastructure to allow it to be deployed more easily in England.
The announcement is the strongest sign yet that the Conservative Party could be poised to reverse its 2015 ban on new onshore wind farms being built in England.
The Chancellor also wants to see the “vast majority” of consented, planning and pre-lease stage offshore wind projects start construction by the end of 2023.
All remaining UK Round 3, Round 4, Extension, ScotWind, INTOG, Floating Wind Commercialisation Projects and Celtic Sea projects are to be “accelerated” under the UK government’s growth plan announced as part of a Mini Budget today.
“These projects may benefit from acceleration through planning reform, regulatory reform, improved processes or other options to speed up their development and construction, including through development consent processes,” the document states.
The growth plan continues that the UK’s planning system is “too slow and too fragmented”, adding that no new substantive onshore wind farm has received planning consent since 2015 and offshore wind farms can take “four years to get through the planning process”.
It argues the system has been deteriorating in recent years, with the timespan for granting Development Consent Orders increasing by 65% between 2012 and 2021.
To remedy this, new legislation will be brough forward in the coming months to address these barriers by reducing “unnecessary burdens”, the document notes.
This will involve reducing the burden of environmental assessments, reducing bureaucracy in the consultation process and reforming habitats and species regulations, as well as increasing flexibility to make changes to a DCO once it has been submitted.
Commenting on the Chancellor’s plans, Danielle Lane, Country Manager for Vattenfall in the UK, said: “It’s great that government’s taking steps to reform the offshore wind planning process which will accelerate the renewables projects, like the Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farm, required to help keep bills down for customers while also breaking the UK’s reliance on expensive gas.”
Hydrogen clusters, oil & gas fields, nuclear plants and carbon capture projects are also to be prioritised under the government’s growth plan.
However, there is no mention of solar within the 42-page document.
Prime Minister Liz Truss attracted criticism from trade associations during her election campaign for expressing negative views on solar deployment, describing the technology as “paraphernalia”.
Her comments were branded “concerning” by the Renewable Energy Association and Solar Energy UK.