In the UK, taxpayers hard earned cash is being spent on public inquiries, often unnecessarily brought about by nimbys. Income tax which goes to the treasury is being used to fund the Planning Inspectorate who manage public inquiries for wind farms when they are refused locally and local council taxes are used to fund local planning authorities who decide they want to pay for barristers and expert consultants to fight renewable energy projects because the vocal minority decide they do not like a project.
As an example, a 10 turbine wind energy proposal near Bradwell on Sea on the coast of Essex, England was granted planning consent in 2007, further to an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, and a 3 week public inquiry dealing with a host of issues from the effects of the wind farm on the setting of nearby listed St Peters Chapel to the operations of the airport at Southend.
Local anti-wind energy campaigners paid for a legal review of the consent and discovered that one the planning conditions governing the maximum noise limits emitted from the wind farm had been written into the consent incorrectly by the planning inspector by mistake. Current planning legislation does not allow for the amendment of planning conditions for consents granted at appeal. On this basis the consent was quashed further to the high court challenge and it was decided that the “noise” topic be dealt with again at public inquiry.
Since these events which took place during 2007/2008 the planning inspector has retired and the Planning Inspectorate has decided to hold the same full public inquiry again rather than restricting it purely to the noise condition issue. To hear all the same evidence twice will come at a high cost to the taxpayer purely because there was no mechanism to simply amend the noise limit to the correct figure.
A public inquiry such as this will cost the energy company at least one hundred thousand pounds and will also cost Maldon District Council residents a similar amount through their council taxes (after having spent at least fifty thousand pounds in 2007). Furthermore taxpayers will pay for the national body – the Planning Inspectorate to consider the proposal a second time around.
Anthony Fyson, writer at Planning Magazine accuses the British Wind Energy Association as wanting renewable energy projects to merely be rubber stamped without proper consideration – however everyone must agree that there is something wrong with a system whereby a proposal that was appealed in 2006 is still with the Planning Inspectorate for consideration 3 years later in 2009. The project went public in early 2005 and environmental work started several years before that meaning that 6 years on – there is still no decision.
If you want to find out more about the project – visit the energy company’s website. You can make a difference by submitting comments to the Planning Inspectorate before 21st April by going to the planning portal website You can access the case by putting in reference number APP/X1545/A/06/2023805/NWF into the ‘Case Ref’ field of the ‘Search’ page and clicking on the search button. Alternatively you can e-mail the Planning Inspectorate at sarah.banwell@pins.gsi.gov.uk
