Another day, another U-turn: this time on onshore wind. To the surprise of no-one, the government has given in to rebel Tory backbenchers, including two former prime ministers, who had been pushing for the end to the moratorium on new onshore wind farms. The amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill from former Levelling Up secretary Simon Clarke would instead allow new windmills in areas where there was genuine local support. Tonight, the Levelling Up ministry announced a ‘technical consultation’ which will ‘explore how local authorities demonstrate local support and respond to views of their communities when considering onshore wind development in England’. The press release claimed that ‘today’s announcement builds on previous government action to make sure local communities are at the heart of decisions on onshore wind’.
This is a very long way of saying ‘we have changed our policy’ – and is an attempt to show that the change isn’t a particularly big deal because it follows the direction already set by the Conservatives in government back in 2016.
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