The UK Labour Party will introduce “tough new targets” to reduce the time clean energy projects take in planning “from years to months”.
If elected, a Labour government would end the duplication and bureaucracy of the current system when it comes to the consenting process of offshore wind, it said.
It would also require local authorities to proactively identify areas suitable for renewables generation.
Labour’s planned changes also include overturning the ruling Conservatives’ ban on new onshore wind.
The move forms part of the opposition party’s Green Prosperity Plan, launched today by its leader Keir Starmer (pictured).
Starmer said it can take up to 13 years to develop a new offshore wind farm. For example, the Hornsea 1 wind farm off the Yorkshire coast was commissioned under the last Labour government, but didn’t come online until 2019.
Moreover, the backlog in power projects connecting to the National Grid has now got so bad that projects from the latest leasing round last year have been told they will not get a grid connection until 2033 – over a decade later, he added.
In response, Starmer will set out the urgent action that Labour will take in its first year in government, so that by 2030 the UK will be the first major country in the world to run on 100% clean and affordable power, with lower bills for all.
He will pledge that a Labour government will establish GB Energy, a new home-grown, publicly-owned champion in clean and affordable power generation – to build jobs and supply chains in the country.
Labour would also set up the National Wealth Fund, which will create good, well-paying jobs by investing alongside the private sector in gigafactories, clean steel plants, renewable-ready ports, green hydrogen and energy storage he added.
Starmer said: “We can cut bills, create jobs and provide energy security for Britain – that’s what a Labour government will deliver.
“We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and start building things, run towards the barriers – the planning system, the skills shortages, the investor confidence, the grid.
“If the status quo isn’t good enough we must find the reforms that can restart our engine. I’m not going to accept a situation where our planning system means it takes 13 years to build an offshore wind farm.
“We’re going to throw everything at this: planning reform, procurement, long-term finance, R&D, a strategic plan for skills and supply chains.
“A new plan for a new settlement. A clear direction across all four nations. Pulling together for a simple, unifying priority: British power for British jobs.”