Daniel Marston, a Managing Associate in law firm Addleshaw Goddard’s Planning and Infrastructure Consenting Team, looks at whether, and more importantly how, the direction could change in relation to the policy on developing new onshore wind farms in England.
As the focus of energy policy shifts in response to recent events, can England continue to afford to give local communities a veto over onshore wind development?
There are early signs that the government thinks not. The development of new onshore wind farms has all but ceased since the Cameron government of 2015 introduced a range of policy and legal changes to the planning system designed to “halt the spread of onshore wind farms”.
Considerable industry pressure, and the government’s own commitments to tackling climate change and reaching Net Zero (not least during its hosting of COP26), have so far had no effect in changing that position. But there are growing signs that things are about to change.
Energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng has said that: “Ensuring the UK’s clean energy independence is a matter of national security.” Concerns around national security and the rising cost of energy may well tip the government’s political calculation, especially at a time when the public mood is being swayed more by rising energy costs than by objection to onshore wind.
The fact that increasing numbers of onshore wind farms are approaching de-commissioning with no obvious route to re-powering will only give the debate further impetus.
How would the position be reversed in practice?
Change is hinted at in numerous media reports and press articles, and a private members bill has been introduced by Baroness Hayman aimed at forcing the government to revise national planning guidance so that it permits onshore wind. While a private members bill is unlikely to be the instrument to revive the onshore wind industry in England, the timing of it appears to have elicited an early indication of the government’s change in position, with reference to a forthcoming energy bill and new energy security strategy.
The details are not yet clear, but it is worth recognising that what was largely removed by changes to planning policy and guidance can just as easily be restored by the same means.
For those onshore wind farms under the DCO limit, which are governed by national and local planning policy, the policy position could be addressed by updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Planning Practice Guidance (PPG), both of which are under almost continual review.
Restoring onshore wind back into the DCO regime under the Planning Act 2008 would need secondary legislation, but the ongoing review of the National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure (EN‑3) offers a well-timed opportunity to fill the current policy gap for those onshore windfarms which would previously have fallen into the DCO regime. The latest draft version of EN-3, which has recently been the subject of consultation in autumn 2021, makes no mention at all of onshore wind. That is only to be expected given onshore wind’s exclusion from the DCO regime, yet it does bring its absence in to sharp focus and gives an indication as how quickly the government’s thinking in relation to energy policy may be changing.
Energy transmission upgrades
Planning policy does not operate in a vacuum. If the government is keen to see onshore wind play an increased role as part of the renewable energy mix, then this will have to be factored into decisions in relation to the energy transmission system. Current upgrade options will not have factored in any significant new onshore wind generation.
Onshore wind was allowed to compete in the most recent auction round (AR4) for the Contract for Difference (CfD) subsidy for renewable generation for the first time in several years. We await the outcome of the auction but if any onshore wind farms have entered a bid, they must have already secured planning consent and a grid connection. We suspect these hurdles mean few onshore wind farms will have been in a position to submit a bid in AR4, but that they were allowed to suggests that the wind may be changing. The move to annual auctions will give onshore wind farms that are able to get planning permission more chance of a subsidy in future.
Policy levers within easy reach
It remains to be seen whether these early indications from the government result in change, but it is increasingly clear that the gap created by the lack of new onshore wind generation is one that the government cannot ignore and will need to address. The fact that the levers to do so are within easy reach will no doubt factor into the government’s thinking.
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