Changes to planning rules for small-scale wind turbines have been branded "nonsensical" by a leading renewable energy company.
David Hunt, a director with
Eco Environments, says the Government has "shot itself in the foot" by only granting
Permitted Development status to
wind turbines which do not exceed 11.1 metres in height.
Hunt said: "There are currently nine
Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) approved wind turbines and all of them exceed this height restriction, which means the Government has granted Permitted Development status to zero MCS turbines.
"In the same breath, the Government has given PD approval to building mounted turbines. However, no such turbines have secured MCS approval and, further more, they have been declared useless in independent research by the Energy Saving Trust.
"Unless wind turbines have secured MCS, they are ineligible for the Government’s Feed-in-Tariffs system and therefore provide no financial incentive to potential users.
"The Government likes to present itself as a supporter of
renewable energy technologies, but nonsensical decisions such as these prove the opposite is the case."
The announcement on changes to planning criteria – due to come into effect in December this year – comes just days after Eco Environments branded a Cheshire councillor "ignorant" after going against the advice of their own planners and refusing an application for a wind turbine.
Hugh Pode was seeking to erect a small-scale wind turbine on land at Riley Bank Farm, his home near Frodsham, Cheshire.
A detailed application and supporting evidence was prepared by planning consultant Christopher Monckton aided by leading North West renewable energy company Eco Environments.
This was then recommended for approval by Cheshire West and Chester Council’s planning department, which is vastly experienced in dealing with similar applications.
In its report recommending approval, planners stated: "The proposed erection of one wind turbine on a 15 metre mast is considered to be of an acceptable design and will not have any unacceptable detrimental impact on neighbouring residential amenity. The merits of the proposal have been assessed and it is clear that the very special circumstances of the site and the proposal outweigh any harm by inappropriateness in the Green Belt."
However, when the application was considered by the council’s planning committee last week it was voted down after a 10-minute outburst by Frodsham Mayor Councillor Andrew Dawson, who bizarrely compared Mr Pode’s 6 kilowatt Proven Energy wind turbine with plans by Peel Energy for a wind farm on Frodsham marshes.
Hunt said: "We have encountered many frustrating examples of councillors refusing permission for domestic wind turbines, but this one in Frodsham is in a totally different league.
"It seems that the application was turned down because of a single councillor’s extraordinary ignorance and desire to stand in the way of progress."
The introduction of the Government’s Feed-in-Tariff scheme in April last year was intended to hasten the number of homeowners and businesses considering installing turbines. FITs has quite simply transformed the renewable energy industry in the UK. Customers are paid for every kilowatt hour of electricity their system produces irrespective of whether they use it or not as well as being paid for electricity sold back to the Grid.
However, the incentivisation has failed to deliver the expected results because local authorities have allowed a massive logjam of wind turbine applications to build up. There is believed to be as much as a full year’s worth of wind turbines stuck in the planning process.
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