Cabinet split over changing planning law to allow more wind farms

Boris Johnson’s cabinet is split over proposals to relax planning rules in England to allow for more onshore wind farms, sources have told the BBC.

Ministers are due next week to lay out plans to generate more energy in the UK to cope with rising household bills.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng advocates relaxing planning regulations to make it easier to approve plans for more onshore wind.

However, the BBC has been told that other Cabinet ministers are strongly opposed to the plans.

In 2015, planning laws were amended to give local governments tighter powers over whether to build onshore wind turbines in their areas. Labor has called this an effective “moratorium” on onshore wind – and called on the Government to end it.

The government wants Britain to become more “energy independent” while the West tries to wean itself off Russian gas and oil.

Its “Energy Supply Strategy” focuses on:

This week, Kwasi Kwarteng told newspaper i: “The Prime Minister has made it very clear that onshore wind has to be part of the mix and we have to look at planning.”

Ahead of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting – the last before the energy strategy was unveiled – he said: “We’re not saying we’re going to scrap all planning rules and all of those things have to be consistent with community support. “

He called the 2015 arguments against more onshore wind “historic” as the government has not yet committed to achieving “net-zero” emissions by 2050.

“Today’s circumstances with Putin. Russia, Saudi Arabia, all these things mean we need to be more energy self-sufficient and I think onshore renewable energy is absolutely one of them,” he added.

Downing Street sources told the BBC the government must be “open” to more onshore wind where it works, but the “big gains are offshore”.

Boris Johnson is said to be particularly interested in offshore wind and nuclear power and told nuclear industry leaders on Monday he was “madly frustrated” that Britain has “so little” nuclear capacity and is “so slow” to build new reactors.

But several Cabinet sources have told the BBC they are opposed to relaxing onshore wind planning laws, with one saying there was “very, very little” support for the idea.

Another Cabinet source said ministers generally agreed on the need for more offshore wind and nuclear power, but onshore wind would create a “bigger problem” and require more discussion.

Among the Cabinet ministers opposed to more onshore wind turbines is Scottish Minister Alister Jack, but the BBC understands he supports offshore developments.

The majority of the UK’s large wind farms are in Scotland and onshore wind is Scotland’s most important source of renewable energy, with around 70% of electricity generated in Scotland in 2020 coming from onshore wind.

Onshore wind farms have been controversial among Tory MPs in the past, with David Cameron saying in 2014 that people were “tired” of building onshore wind farms and Conservative activists criticizing their visual impact on the landscape.

But in recent years, government polls have shown that public support for onshore wind power applies, if not always in the areas where turbines are being built.

Some cabinet ministers we spoke to were more “skeptical” than strong against more onshore winds.

Separately, the BBC was told that Brexit Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg would support anything that would bring “cheap and reliable” energy to the UK, but has long been frustrated by what he sees as unreliability as an energy source.