A recent survey found that a growing number the Conservative party voters are pressuring the Government to scrap the block on new wind turbines built on land.
In 2014 David Cameron, then Prime minister, pushed for the removal of onshore wind farm subsidies in favour of the development of fracking for shale gas, claiming the renewable technology was not popular with the residents and subsidies were not feasible. The move resulted in an 80% reduction in new onshore wind farms last year, the lowest since 2011.
However, polling of over 15,000 Tory voters suggests that there is overwhelming support for building wind farms on UK land and calling on Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, who are currently battling to become the new Prime Minister, to rethink the idea in light of the climate emergency.
Vicky Ford, MP for Chelmsford who backs Hunt in the leadership contest, said: "Times have changed. More people are more concerned about climate change than ever before, and most people support onshore wind too. Back in 2015, many members of the public were concerned about onshore wind planning applications. That clearly isn't the case any more - our own voters are telling us otherwise. We should let onshore wind be built where communities want it."
Also, Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park, who is backing Johnson, said: "Our constituents want to see us do more to tackle climate change. By introducing the net zero target we are responding with world-leading legislation. They support the technologies that will help us to get to that net zero future, which includes the use of onshore wind farms.
There is mounting evidence that onshore wind is significantly cheaper than other forms of energy, and last month the Government committed to a legally-binding target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which many say cannot be achieved without energy produced from onshore wind.
Onshore wind is currently excluded from competing in Contracts for Difference auctions, which aim to provide stability and certainty to investors, which has been one of the factors to a great reduction in the development of such energy.
