Her Majesty The Queen today delivered the speech to the UK Parliament as part of the State Opening of Parliament 2015. The speech sets out the government’s policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session.
Regarding the new Energy Bill, it was revealed today that the UK government, led by David Cameron and the Conservative party, would remove the need for the Secretary of State’s consent for onshore wind farms over 50MW, transferring the existing consenting powers to local planning authorities.
This is one of the first steps that confirm the commitment from Conservatives’ manifesto, which vows to halt the spread of onshore wind farms. These changes apply only to England and Wales, whereas they would not have an impact on the planning regime in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Cameron’s commitment to end new subsidies for onshore wind farms will be delivered separately. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will be announcing measures to deliver this soon, the UK government said.
In their 2015 Manifesto, the Conservatives expressed commitment to offshore wind and tidal energy, along with nuclear, oil and gas resources.
Image: UK Government