Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the announcement on 2 March that Contracts for Difference will in future be open to onshore wind projects, what plans they have to review the planning regime for onshore wind projects in England.

Onshore wind has deployed successfully to date and is an important part of our energy mix. The Government currently has no plans to revisit national planning policy for onshore wind energy schemes. The National Planning Policy Framework confirms planning’s important role in tackling climate change and making the transition to a low carbon economy, setting out that plans should provide a positive strategy for energy supply from renewable sources. In the case of wind energy, national planning policy sets out that planning permission for new wind energy projects should only be granted if the development site is in an area identified as suitable for wind energy development in a local or neighbourhood plan and, following consultation, it can be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by the affected local community have been fully addressed and the proposal has their backing.