The proposed revisions to the NPPF strengthen the weight given to renewable energy projects going through the local planning system in England – but the consultation could go further.
Regen welcomes the publication of the consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), announced yesterday by the Department for Housing, Communities & Local Government.
The proposed revisions strengthen the weight given to renewable energy projects going through the local planning system in England – something we called for in our insight paper Local Planning for Renewables: Five key challenges, published in May.
However, we believe it could go further. We’d like to see renewables projects going through the local planning system given the same weight as those going through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime, where they’re defined as a critical national priority.
Furthermore, the changes contained within the consultation, while positive, will not have the desired impact unless we also address the underlying resourcing issues in local authorities. Our insight paper identifies this as critical to ensuring that the local planning system can cope with the expected increase in applications.
The consultation also suggests raising the threshold for the size at which onshore wind and solar projects qualify for the NSIP regime.
Regen will be responding to the consultation, which is open until 24 September. We invite members to input into our response, which is a vital opportunity to influence the planning system for onshore renewables and storage projects. You can do so by emailing our planning lead, Rebecca Windemer, at rwindemer@regen.co.uk.
We will be discussing our draft response at the next meeting of our members’ working group on planning on 10 September.