Asked by: Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, what proportion of the anticipated generating capacity of onshore wind projects at appeal stage in the planning system related to applications recovered by him in each month of 2013.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
As I have said in my earlier answer, my Department does not centrally hold details of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals.
As at the 1 October 2013, there were 255 onshore wind farm appeals, of which 32 were or have subsequently been recovered.
I can confirm that 17 onshore wind farm appeals were recovered in 2013. This amounts to 6% of the number of onshore wind farm appeals received (280) during that period.
2013 | Appeals Received | Appeals Recovered |
Jan | 23 | 4 |
Feb | 37 | 1 |
Mar | 28 | 2 |
Apr | 19 | 1 |
May | 25 | 1 |
Jun | 27 | 1 |
Jul | 19 | 2 |
Aug | 26 |
|
Sept | 24 | 1 |
Oct | 14 | 3 |
Nov | 17 | 1 |
Dec | 21 |
|
Total | 280 | 17 |
I also refer the hon. Member to the written statement of 9 April 2014, Official Report, Column 12-13WS, which explains the background to the recovery of these planning appeals.
Asked by: Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, what proportion of the anticipated generating capacity of onshore wind projects at appeal stage in the planning system on 1 October 2013 related to applications subsequently recovered by him.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
As I have said in my earlier answer, my Department does not centrally hold details of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals.
As at the 1 October 2013, there were 255 onshore wind farm appeals, of which 32 were or have subsequently been recovered.
I can confirm that 17 onshore wind farm appeals were recovered in 2013. This amounts to 6% of the number of onshore wind farm appeals received (280) during that period.
2013 | Appeals Received | Appeals Recovered |
Jan | 23 | 4 |
Feb | 37 | 1 |
Mar | 28 | 2 |
Apr | 19 | 1 |
May | 25 | 1 |
Jun | 27 | 1 |
Jul | 19 | 2 |
Aug | 26 |
|
Sept | 24 | 1 |
Oct | 14 | 3 |
Nov | 17 | 1 |
Dec | 21 |
|
Total | 280 | 17 |
I also refer the hon. Member to the written statement of 9 April 2014, Official Report, Column 12-13WS, which explains the background to the recovery of these planning appeals.
Asked by: Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, where within his Department information on the energy capacity of schemes is held.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
[Holding Reply: Wednesday 9 April 2014]
The individual details of each appeal are submitted by the parties within a variety of documents, stored separately on the individual case files.
My Department does not analyse or keep running totals of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals, and it would incur disproportionate cost to create such information retrospectively. The main consideration in wind turbine appeals is the potential impact of the development on the surrounding area.
Details on renewable energy projects are held on the Department of Energy and Climate Change's Planning Database at: https://restats.decc.gov.uk/cms/planning-database/
Asked by: Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March, Official Report, column 439W, on wind power, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the use of recoveries in the planning system with regards to onshore wind developments on (a) investment in onshore wind, (b) energy bills, (c) competition in the market, (d) community benefit and (e) onshore wind supply chain and jobs.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
This type of assessment has not been carried out by this Department. Planning is a quasi-judicial process and decisions on planning proposals should be made in accordance with planning law. This requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. I refer the hon. Member to the written statement of 10 October 2013 Official Report,Column 30-31WS, which explains why we are giving particular scrutiny to planning appeals involving renewable energy developments.
Asked by: Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, how his Department makes decisions on planning and recoveries without centrally holding the capacity of energy schemes.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The main consideration in the recovery of wind turbine appeals is the potential impact of the development on the surrounding area, in the particular circumstances of each appeal and its location. The generation capacity of the appeal is not a driver in the decision on whether or not the appeal should be recovered.
As I said in my earlier answer my Department does not centrally hold details of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals.
Asked by: Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, how much onshore wind capacity was recovered in each month in 2013.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The main consideration in the recovery of wind turbine appeals is the potential impact of the development on the surrounding area, in the particular circumstances of each appeal and its location. The generation capacity of the appeal is not a driver in the decision on whether or not the appeal should be recovered.
As I said in my earlier answer my Department does not centrally hold details of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals.