Labour pledges tough targets for renewable energy schemes

The Labour Party this week announced their plans to "Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower" which will make energy cheaper and secure and create jobs.

The document states that it currently takes around 13 years to develop a new offshore wind farm, with four of those years taken up with the planning process. In order to address this, Labour has committed to establishing "GB Energy", with their HQ in Scotland, which would essentially be a "home-grown, publicly owned champion in clean energy generation". This would help to create jobs and build supply chains in the UK.

They have also pledged to:

• make sure local communities directly benefit from the clean energy infrastructure they host;
• reduce the time projects take in planning from years to months, through tough new targets for consenting decisions for renewable projects, with a new framework to monitor decision times and a designated directorate within Government to ensure departments and statutory consultees remain on track;
• review national policy statements and the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime and update them where necessary to clearly reflect its mission and the need for clean power infrastructure;
• immediately remove the onshore wind ban.

The Party also stressed that they were committed to adding net zero mandates to all relevant regulators that need it, including in the planning system, as well as introducing a national approach to marine planning decisions in England in order to speed up the consenting process for offshore renewables.

Local authorities would also be required to identify areas that are suitable for renewable energy generation, which is a departure from the current method of assessing applications when they are submitted.

Speaking at the launch of the plans, leader Keir Starmer said:

"We've got to roll up our sleeves and start building things and run towards the barriers – the planning system, the skills shortages, the investor confidence, the Grid. If the status quo isn't good enough – we must find the reforms that can restart our engine.

"I'm not going to accept a situation where our planning system means it takes 13 years to build an offshore wind farm. I'm not going to let slow connections to the National Grid hold back £200 billion worth of projects, and I'm not going to allow other countries to build the British infrastructure of tomorrow when those jobs belong in our country.

"No, we're going to throw everything at this: planning reform, procurement, long-term finance, R&D, a strategic plan for skills and supply chains, a new plan for a new settlement, a clear direction across all four nations, pulling together for a simple, unifying priority. British power for British jobs."