Local People to have say over Onshore Windfarms

Antoinette Sandbach, MP for Eddisbury, has welcomed new measures announced by the Government that will see the law changed to give local communities the final say over planning decisions for new onshore wind farms.

Wind turbines will only get the go-ahead if the local community has made it clear they support onshore wind projects in their area. They will be free to decide where turbines should go and any proposals must address the concerns of local people and have their backing.

In addition, the law will be changed to end billpayer subsidies for new onshore wind farms from April 2016. This will ensure that we meet our renewable energy commitments in a way that protects taxpayers and keeps bills low for working people.

Antoinette commented:
'For too long our communities were powerless to stop wind farm developments that they objected to from going ahead.

'Thanks to the Conservatives this will now change. Delivering on our manifesto commitment, local communities like ours here in Eddisbury will now have the final say over planning applications for onshore wind turbines which will ensure only those schemes that have the support of local people can go ahead.

And we are stopping billpayer subsidies for new onshore wind farms so that energy bills are kept down.

'This is part of our plan to give power back to communities and local people so that they can decide and determine the future of their areas – not be forced to accept decisions imposed on them.'

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