Labour lifts ban on onshore windfarms

The chancellor Rachel Reeves has stated that she will revise planning policy and move towards decisions being taken nationally not locally. The ‘ban’ on new onshore windfarms has been dropped by the Labour government to the delight of environmentalists and energy experts. The ban was apparently caused by two footnotes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) the rules that govern the building of homes and infrastructure. These footnotes applied only to onshore wind and no other type of infrastructure and required such strong proof that there was no opposition locally that they made building turbines virtually impossible given there is generally some local resistance to any building proposal.

The future looks positive for onshore wind. Thanks to new technologies and increasing demand solar and wind power are potentially much more cost effective than fossil-fuel power. By 2030 the aim is to...