Wind Turbines

I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Simpson) on securing the debate. I should explain to hon. Members that my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy is out of the country today on ministerial business, but I shall endeavour to answer the points that have been raised. I welcome the debate because the issue is crucial and important not only in Norfolk but, as hon. Members have said, more widely throughout the country. I suspect that it will become more important as time goes on. Today's debate gives us the opportunity to discuss subsidies, planning and support, and to set the record straight on some common misunderstandings of how the system operates. The Government are committed to meeting targets for renewable energy. They probably have broad support among the population and the importance of the issue is widely recognised. Meeting those aims means getting good quality applications through the planning system and looking at how to improve the system in the longer term. The proposals in the Planning Bill, to which the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk referred, will play an absolutely vital role. I should like to set out in more detail how the planning system deals with such applications. Currently, applications for onshore projects that generate fewer than 50 MW of electricity are decided by the local planning authority using its powers under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Any proposed onshore development for the generation of more than 50 MW is decided on by the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Whoever makes the decision must take account of a series of considerations including landscape, visual impact, habitation and so on. Projects that do not meet the planning requirements are refused consent. There is not an automatic presumption that projects will go forward; in fact, around a third of such planning applications are turned down. Even when development has been agreed, local opinion is often reflected in conditions or mitigating factors that must be taken into account. Local authorities have improved the speed at which they handle applications, and three quarters now meet the performance objectives. However, the Government wish to tackle parts of the planning process without removing the important voice of the local community, to which the hon. Gentleman referred. The Planning Bill, which the House is considering, will make changes. As part of that package, the Government envisage a national policy statement on renewables. We are used to statements that give guidance to planning authorities in planning policy as a whole. The Government will introduce statements that establish the case for infrastructure development and integrate environmental, social and economic objectives. The Bill will also establish an independent infrastructure planning commission to take decisions on nationally significant infrastructure projects for energy, including proposals for large-scale renewable projects that will produce more than 50 MW. The commission will take that role from the Secretary of State. The national planning statements will provide the policy framework for the infrastructure planning commission's decisions, and smaller-scale renewables will benefit from planning reforms. The clarity on national need and impacts will be set out in the proposed national policy statements, but it will also be helpful for decisions that are taken under the 1990 Act. We recognise that change is necessary to ensure that we get the system right as we go forward. There is new guidance in the climate change policy planning statement, which contains a requirement on local authorities to consider renewables applications favourably, and not simply to use an argument that states that a project could be located elsewhere.