(Bloomberg) -- The UK’s new Labour government will seek to speed the approval process for onshore wind projects by removing red tape that has allowed local groups to stall projects, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said.
“We will give priority to energy projects in the system to ensure that they make swift progress,” she said in a speech Monday. The government will immediately end several policy tests that effectively allow any opposition to halt projects, according a statement issued in conjunction with her remarks.
Labour wants to more than double the UK’s onshore wind capacity to 35 gigawatts by 2030, to help the nation reach its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. The party has also pledged to make the electric grid fully carbon-free by the end of this decade. Wind energy has broad public support, government data show.
The wind industry has faced issues including high financing costs and local opposition to massive wind turbines that often dominate the landscape. Previous rules created an effective ban on the construction of new projects due to authority given to local officials.
The previous Conservative government eased those rules, though that still hasn’t prompted a new wave of construction. Reeves said Labour would completely end the de facto ban, which she described as “absurd,” adding that decisions should be “taken nationally, not locally.”
Industry officials welcomed her remarks. “If the UK can halve the time it takes to get renewables, electricity grid and storage projects through the planning system, we’ll look to double our investment over the coming years,” ScottishPower Chief Executive Officer Keith Anderson said in a statement.
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