Rishi Sunak has announced that the Government will ease restrictions on building onshore wind farms, heading off a revolt by his party’s MP’s who had demanded they should be permitted with local support.
Sunak had opposed relaxing the ban on onshore farms in his campaign to become party leader just a few months ago and has said he wanted to focus on offshore wind.
But some in his Conservative Party have been demanding onshore turbines should be allowed where there was local consent, and said they would seek to make changes to a proposed legislation going through parliament.
Under the proposals, planning permission would be dependent on a project being able to demonstrate local support and satisfactorily address any impacts identified by the local community. Local authorities would also have to demonstrate their support for certain areas as being suitable for onshore wind, moving away from rigid requirements for sites to be designated in local plans.
