The previous government’s de facto ban on onshore wind farms meant the UK missed out on as much as £900 million in economic output, according to consultancy and advisory firm Turley.
The previous Conservative government introduced a policy in 2014 that allowed a single local objection to block development of a wind farm in England, which led to the immediate rejection or withdrawal of 54 planning applications for onshore wind projects.
While the policy was repealed when the Labour government was voted in in July 2024, Turley’s analysis estimates that around 2.3GW of onshore wind power could have been generated during the ten years this policy was in place.
The damage the previous government’s policy caused also extends outside of renewable energy generation. Turley’s analysis suggests that the de facto onshore wind ban resulted in the loss of £900 million in economic output, with local communities missing out on as much as £11.5 million each year from Community Benefit Funds that onshore wind farms would have brought with them. Furthermore, new wind developments during these ten years would have created as many as 370 new jobs each year in the wind industry.
Notably, the ban only applied to England. Other UK nations were able to pursue their onshore wind ambitions, and during the 2014-2024 period Northern Ireland approved wind projects totaling 700MW, Wales approved 500MW of onshore wind projects, while Scotland granted approved 8.1GW of onshore wind capacity.
Nicola Riley, senior director for net zero infrastructure at Turley said that removing the de facto ban is merely the first step in repairing the damage to the economy and renewable energy sector that the previous decade of policy caused.
She noted that the ban has left the government “lagging behind” with its renewable energy generation pipeline, adding: “Equally supportive local policy is needed and it is essential for government, local authorities, industry leaders and community stakeholders to collaborate, which will result in a much more streamlined and proportionate decision-making process”.
In response to general concerns about the renewables rollout, the UK government has made significant changes to planning permission policies in recent months. In December, the government published changes to the national planning policy framework in an effort to put “builders not blockers first” by better aligning the framework with National Policy Statements.
