Monday 18 May 2015

No wind farms without local support, says Amber Rudd

The UK Government won’t approve onshore wind projects unless they have the support of local people, the new Energy Secretary has said.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Amber Rudd, who was appointed last week following the Conservatives election win, said the announcement would be confirmed in the upcoming Queen’s Speech.

Ms Rudd said she “personally quite enjoyed” seeing wind farms but recognised their location was divisive, with numerous protests against them.

However she added: “We can’t have them on a scale in areas where people don’t want them.”

It comes as the Conservative Party’s election manifesto pledged to end subsidies to operators of new onshore wind farms.

Ms Rudd went on: “It will mean no more onshore wind farm subsidies and no more onshore wind farms without local community support.

“This is really important. I’ve already got my team working on it. That’s going to be one of the first things we're going to do.

“I’ve put a rocket under the team to get it done, putting the local community back in charge. We're looking to do the primary legislation as soon as we can.”

She also said the government would help kick-start a shale gas revolution.