Back in 2010, a real focus on climate change started to emerge in local government. Renewable energy was an important part of this new agenda and this coincided with the government’s introduction of financial incentives.
Solar PV projects were out of the blocks first and a number of councils tried to benefit from the solar boom. However, local authorities are always going to be slower to react than private sector developers due to the burdens of administration to which they are subject. By the time momentum was starting to build, the government had slashed the Feed-In-Tariffs (FITs), and many schemes collapsed. Some went on to delivery, but most did not. Only now are more schemes coming forward when a private sector market reached a mature stage across the country some time ago.
Wind energy curiously has a similar glide path but for different reasons. Wind was included in the financial incentives, but it is probably fair to say that public support was lower in the early days than it is now (post-energy crisis and the clamour for more action on climate change). Most authorities progressed solar schemes, although a brave few did pursue the wind option.
Only Bristol City Council managed to actually build a civically funded and operated wind energy asset during this time. A handful of other authorities were also some way down the development path, but they all suffered a similar arrest as the solar farms, this time due to planning changes in England.
Between 2010 and 2015, wind turbines had become controversial, particularly in the leafy Southern counties of England. A small but incredibly vocal and aggressive minority had decided that onshore wind energy should be stopped. Conservative backbench MPs in these areas were only too happy to oppose wind farms in their areas – or at least banish them to the area George Osbourne once referred to as the “desolate North”.
The government was pressured to take action and decided to amend the National Planning Policy Framework for England by introducing new restrictions on wind farm schemes. These were heavily criticised by the green lobby as being nothing more than political vandalism. It is accurate, though, to say that these provisions were politically motivated as no such restrictions applied to any other form of renewable energy technology, nor indeed to fossil-fuel based projects either (such as diesel generator sites).
The mechanism of how the government closed off wind energy is found in changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which is a crucial part of the planning process. A Ministerial Statement for England in 2015 introduced a Footnote to the NPPF, which set down three new pre-requisites for planning consent to be granted. These stipulated that development can only take place in areas identified as suitable in the Council’s Local Development Plan, the planning impacts identified by the local community affected by the development must have been fully addressed, and finally, that the proposed development has the community’s backing.
They may seem innocuous, but any one of the three could prove fatal to a proposed development. The first requires all local authorities across the country to have zoned areas as suitable for wind in their Local Plans, when evidence from the time illustrated that 90% of authorities had not done this. So, most applications would fall just on the first hurdle.
The second is that considerable work needs to be undertaken to look at the potential “impacts” taking time, resources and expense on the part of any developer.
Finally, community backing was interpreted as though a single objection could scupper a complete project. Bearing in mind that social media could whip up objections in an instant based on wholly misleading or inaccurate information, no potential developer for onshore wind was going to risk extensive funds against such overwhelming odds. Ironically enough, local authority projects were also caught in this net.
Records show that projects in England virtually dried up for years afterwards. As an example, from 2020 to 2024 just 4.2MW of onshore wind became operational in England, whereas 110MW was achieved by Scotland and Wales – where planning policy is a devolved matter – over the same time period.
The starting gun has been fired
When the new Labour government published its manifesto, it clarified that it would change this position. Indeed, within the first 30 days of its being in office, it revoked the said footnote and returned wind energy projects back to their original position, i.e. governed by the same rules as every other application for planning consent.
This change will be of seismic importance in the UK, reaching the net zero targets set down by the Climate Change Act 2008. As the Climate Change Committee continues to report that the UK is behind on its progression, suddenly, the prospect of 30 GW of deliverable new renewable energy over the next 10 years has arisen. The current government will take the credit for this if it is delivered.
So, the starting gun has been fired for onshore wind in England. It is not suggested that there will be a huge flood of new applications. Wind is still a difficult technology to deliver; the grid is constrained in many areas and subject to strenuous action elsewhere to deal with this. Communities may still object, and planning permission may still be a challenge. But wind farm projects no longer have one hand tied behind their backs. It is, therefore, likely that momentum will now grow in this area.
Local authorities are determined not to miss the boat this time, as it could be argued they did with solar farms. Councils have two options to consider at this stage. The first is to dust off old schemes that were started but then suspended. The second is to review their landholdings again to see if they have land suitable for such a project.
The first option will only be available to a handful of authorities. These are the pioneers who recognised the value of wind energy, identified sites, appointed consultants, and started the lengthy development process. Assuming they still own the land in question, there is no reason why such projects cannot be re-started at this stage. The context has changed favourably in the intervening years and the public are much more prepared to support onshore wind than before. Costs are such that excellent financial returns are still possible.
The second option will be favoured by the majority of councils who have not seriously considered wind energy before. Many authorities have reviewed their landholdings for solar farm purposes and will be familiar with the work. A different set of criteria is all that is required.
In a project I am currently involved in, a County Council has recently commissioned consultants to look at all the land in its administrative area and its suitability for wind farm development. By starting with a high-level review, costs can be kept to a minimum. Such criteria might include topography, wind speed, potential for a grid connection and planning consent. Once this data was available to the authority, it overlaid its own landholdings on the same map and determined which sites it already owned. This revealed several excellent sites for a wind farm to be developed.
There are a number of advantages for local authorities in looking again at wind energy. The obvious first point is that Councils own lots of land and have access to inexpensive capital via the Public Works Loans Board. Wind is, of course, three times as productive as solar energy, yet it uses hugely less land in its footprint. Most authorities have a climate change strategy and action plans, perhaps supported by a renewable energy strategy. It is helpful to increase the variety of technologies included in such programmes.
Other factors may also come into play. Joint solar and wind sites are possible and are being developed regularly by private sector developers. Grid connections permitting, wind can be added at a later stage to a site which already has planning consent for renewable energy. It is also possible to develop wind projects alongside solar PV to give a pipeline of projects.
But one of the most important elements that is likely to be unique to the public sector is its ability to engage with communities and bring them on board to support a project. This may take several forms, from joint ownership to generous community benefit arrangements, which are now stretching to the supply of cheaper electricity to local residents. This is a surefire way to garner better public support.
All of this means that we are likely to see many more local authority projects coming forward for wind energy (with their developer hats on) and perhaps a clearer focus on where wind is appropriate in their area (for the purposes of the planning function). This should help both the public and private sectors.