Rishi Sunak’s government will allow new wind farms to be built after months of uncertainty over the policy.
New onshore projects will be given the green light if local support can be demonstrated, a U-turn on the prime minister’s previous position.
New onshore wind farms were banned by David Cameron but Tory backbenchers have pushed for a change in position in order to boost the UK’s energy security.
Opponents have concerns about sound pollution and their visual impacts on landscape.
Mr Sunak said he was opposed to them in his failed first bid for the Conservative leadership in the summer but has bowed to pressure.
Planning permission will only be granted to those who show any impacts identified by the community will be ‘appropriately’ addressed, the levelling up department said.
Liz Truss and Boris Johnson are among the Tory MPs who were pushing for an overhaul of the policy in the face of Britain’s energy crisis.
Calls to end the ban on new onshore wind farms have grown amid efforts to secure the UK’s energy independence as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has squeezed supplies.
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed that a Labour government would scrap the planning ban as part of its plan to make the UK a clean energy superpower.
Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy accused Mr Sunak and her ministerial counterpart Michael Gove of being ‘too weak’ to stand up to the backbench rebellion, claiming they are ‘in office but not in power’.
Mike Childs, from Friends of the Earth, said the effective moratorium on new developments ‘should have been lifted years ago’.
The onshore wind announcement is a weak and unsatisfactory fudge from a Prime Minister who is a prisoner of factions of the Tory party.
The onshore wind ban is not properly lifted, there is no clarity but more delay and that means higher bills and less energy security.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) December 6, 2022
Dan McGrail, from RenewableUK, said lifting the de-facto ban would help generate more cheap power to help hard-pressed billpayers.
‘We look forward to working with Government and communities on the detail of a new approach,’ he said.
Octopus Energy also backed the removal of ‘red tape’ on onshore wind as a means to cut the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels.
Really pleased to see a sensible agreement reached this evening which will enable onshore wind to be delivered while enshrining the vital principle of community consent. 𧵠https://t.co/Ja7uBcikhB
— Simon Clarke MP (@SimonClarkeMP) December 6, 2022
In a statement, the DLUHC said: ‘The Government commits to launching a technical consultation to explore how local authorities demonstrate local support and respond to views of their communities when considering onshore wind development in England.
‘Decisions on onshore wind sites will continue to be made at a local level as these are best made by local representatives who know their areas best and are democratically accountable to the local community.’
The technical consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework will be launched by Christmas and concluded by the end of April 2023.
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