Wind News

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Natural England is a statutory consultee for applications that may impact on conservation sites or protected wildlife

Natural England has published guidance on how it plans to assess on-shore wind energy development proposals put forward as part of the planning process.

Outlined in ‘Making space for renewable energy,' published yesterday (March 16), the guidance is intended for the conservation body's own staff to help them deliver a consistent and clear approach in relation to onshore wind energy development.

However, Natural England said that it would also be used to inform developers, planning authorities and the wind energy industry about how it develops the statutory advice used to assess wind energy proposals and their impact on the natural environment.

As the government's advisor on wildlife and the natural environment, Natural England is a statutory consultee where planning proposals may have an impact on designated conservation sites or on protected wildlife.

As a result, it has an important role to play in advising on on-shore wind energy development and the degree to which the natural environment can accommodate it.

And, Natural England said it expects that the projected expansion of on-shore wind energy development will "inevitably increase" demand for its statutory advice.

Andrew Wood, Natural England's executive director evidence and analysis, said that the guidance could help ensure that "the right sort of development ends up in the right places"

"We want to do all we can to help identify areas where production of renewable and low carbon energy can be best located with minimal impact on the natural environment," he said.

"By creating a more transparent approach, we hope to offer greater certainty over the sustainable deployment of on-shore wind energy.

"We hope that it will be a step on the way to showing how society can integrate its concerns for the natural environment with appropriate and effective responses to combat climate change."

Guidance

The new guidance outlines a systematic approach and, by making it public, Natural England said it hoped to encourage a stronger consensus of where and how on-shore wind energy might be successfully accommodated within the natural environment.

The approach has three component stages: identifying and assessing the range of factors that need to be taken into account - such as landscape or wildlife; making a judgement against each of those factors; and then making an overall professional judgement about the impact that wind energy developments is likely to have on the area concerned.

Natural England also plans to publish its approaches to other key energy infrastructure to give staff and stakeholders a clearer understanding of how it will engage with the decision-making processes to deliver a low carbon energy supply.