Lead member
Sir Alok Sharma
Conservative, Reading West
Commons
Decision
Not called
The amendment was debated as part of a group of amendments, but not put to a vote.
Amendment text
To move the following Clause—
“Planning applications for onshore wind energy developments
(1)
Within three months of the date on which the Act is passed, the Secretary of State must—
(a)
remove from the National Planning Policy Framework the restrictions placed by footnote 54 on the circumstances in which proposed wind energy developments involving one or more turbines should be considered acceptable, and
(b)
publish guidance for wind developers on how they can engage communities, demonstrate local consent to local planning authorities, and provide financial benefits to local residents.
(2)
Section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is amended by the insertion, after subsection (3), of the following new subsection—
“(3A)
An appeal under this section may not be brought or continued against the refusal of an application for planning permission if the development is for the purposes of installing new onshore wind sites not previously used for generating wind energy.””
Member's explanatory statement
This new clause aims to remove the current planning restriction that a single objection to an onshore wind development is sufficient to block the development, to ensure that local communities willing to take onshore wind developments will receive some community benefit, and to provide that local decisions made on onshore wind cannot be overturned on appeal.