Government eases planning process for wind farms

The government is set to ease the approval process for major infrastructure projects, including wind farms, railway lines, and power stations, by reducing legal challenges that have previously delayed their progress.

These proposals could give the government more power to push through major projects, and potentially lead to more land being taken out of food production.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to take on the “nimbys” and reform the planning system.

See also: Analysis: The pros and cons of solar farm development

Under current rules, up to three legal challenges can be made against a project – however, the government intended to cap this to just one.

The paper permission stage of a legal challenge is also due to be scrapped completely.

Sir Keir said: “For too long, blockers have had the upper hand in legal challenges – using our court processes to frustrate growth.”

Government figures suggest that more than half of major infrastructure projects are taken to court and on average each legal challenge takes about 18 months to be resolved.

A wind farm project in East Anglia was reportedly delayed by more than two years due to legal challenges, despite campaigners repeatedly being ruled against throughout the proceedings.

Nature fund

The government also unveiled its Nature Restoration Fund, which enables property developers to meet environmental targets with more ease and limit obstructions.

A government release states: “The new common-sense approach doesn’t allow newts or bats to be more important than the homes hardworking people need.”

Alison Ogley, partner at law firm Freeths, said: “This is a potential game changer addressing the current inertia in the system, providing a solution that is more effective than individual developers trying to address environmental improvements on a project-by-project basis.”

Solar farms

Amendments to the Great British Energy Bill were tabled in the House of Lords on 13 January, by Lord Fuller, to prevent publicly owned company GB Energy from acquiring the most productive farmland for use in renewables projects.

The amendments stipulated that GB Energy should be restricted from purchasing Grades 1,2 and 3 land for solar farms.

Lord Fuller said: “The purpose of this set of amendments is to protect the best and most versatile land for food production.

“That is not to say that solar or renewables are intrinsically bad. It is just that solar and renewable energy should be focused on the poorer land and food production on the best.”

A number of members vocalised their support for the amendments, however, they were withdrawn by Lord Fuller on the proviso that the relevant minister would meet with him to consider putting these safeguards in place.

Lord Fuller told Farmers Weekly that since the amendments were debated last week, he had successfully secured a meeting to discuss the proposals with ministers.

“The government has agreed to meet me to discuss how these tensions might be resolved between food security and energy security,” he said.

But if progress is not made between parties on the proposed amendments, then further discussions and potential votes are likely to take place in the House of Lords during the coming months.