Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

The hon. Gentleman has given a graphic demonstration of the problem. There are communities throughout the country which, sometimes for good reasons, oppose particular developments. These are cross-party matters. Labour party members, Tory party members, some of my party members and even some Liberals will oppose specific developments. That is understandable. We are lacking an overall review of what we need. The Scottish Affairs Committee, on which I and the hon. Gentleman served, made that point, which was included in the Committee’s report. We said that we needed an audit to set out the energy sources that were available. We said also that we needed an overall view of what was needed. The Scottish Executive have been under a great deal of pressure to take that approach in respect of wind farms. There is a massive number of wind farm applications, and far too many given the number that are needed. Whenever there is an application there is chaos in the local community. We need an overarching view of what is needed and where these developments go. That would be an important way forward.