Preserved buildings will be able to more easily install heat pumps – a green alternative to gas boilers – and double energy-saving windows. National Policy Statements, which help the Foreign Minister decide on nationally important infrastructure applications and can also influence local planning decisions, will be strengthened to “reflect the importance of energy and clean ground”. Environmental “compensation” measures will be introduced to reduce delays in offshore wind projects, allowing developers to offset, rather than eliminate, environmental impacts such as wildlife risk, while also accelerating approvals for oil and gas projects. natural gas. Changes in planning rules are key to speeding up energy projects, but they risk sparking tensions with local communities and Tory MPs. Several supporters have already expressed concerns about a possible fivefold increase in solar panels, while a significant development of offshore wind farms was recently temporarily halted by a judicial review by a local fighter. Rebecca Windemer, a lecturer at the University of West England, Bristol, said: “When the government is working on how to speed up our planning system, it needs to make sure there is a really early community commitment.” Katie-Jo Luxton of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: “We are already seeing the dangers of making the quickest choice with developers and designers overlooking potential wildlife damage on land and at sea. “Once again, the government has refrained from committing to a coherent spatial plan for mapping both energy reduction and clean energy protection.” It comes as the government seeks to encourage the development of nearby onshore wind farms, cutting bills for people living nearby – a move seen by some activists as “retrograde”. Tom Fyans, director of campaigns and policy at CPRE, an outdoor charity, said: “Subsidized energy bills for communities living near solar or wind farms are a step backwards – good proposals are not needed. Any communities are bribed. accept an otherwise inappropriate development could seriously undermine confidence in the design system. “ Bob Blackman, a Conservative MP from Harrow East and a member of the local government selection committee, said he found communities unlikely to be involved and that easing planning rules was a potential source of conflict. “We have to see the devil in the details and what the locals can agree to.” John Hayes, a former energy minister and Tory MP for the Netherlands and The Deepings in Lincolnshire, said the government’s strategy was “welcome to focus on how we can supply our energy independently” but added: “Apart from “People with an electoral desire to die. I can not imagine many people supporting industrial wind farms to ruin our green and pleasant land.”
