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Ex-Cabinet minister launches bid to relax onshore wind planning

An ex-Cabinet minister has launched a bid to relax planning rules to make it easier to secure permission for onshore wind farms in England.

Planning rules for onshore wind turbines were tightened in the wake of the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election.

Onshore wind farms were excluded from the list of projects that qualify for the status of nationally significant infrastructure project.

In addition, the Town and Country Planning Act was amended to make public consultation mandatory before wind farms can even be considered, unlike any other form of development.

Ex-chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng announced moves in his subsequently discredited September ‘mini-Budget’ to bring onshore wind planning policy “in line” with other infrastructure to allow it to be deployed “more easily” in England.

However, the government has backpedalled on moves to relax restrictions on onshore wind since Rishi Sunak took over from Liz Truss as prime minister last month.

Simon Clarke, who retuned the backbenches last month after Sunak became PM, has tabled an amendment to the government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill to ease the passage for onshore wind developments.

The amendment by the former secretary of state for levelling up would revise the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure that councils are permitted to grant onshore wind applications both on new sites and to repower existing installations.