Expert welcomes "largely positive framing" of new planning guidance for onshore renewable energy

The guidance is published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). It emphasises the important role of planning in delivering new renewable and low carbon energy, but also explains that the need for renewable energy does not automatically override planning concerns of local communities and environmental protections.

Planning and energy law expert Gary McGovern of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the guidance would likely be met with some relief by many in the renewables industry, "given some of the press and media coverage prior to its publication".

"What has been produced is largely framed in a positive or neutral way and contains relatively few surprises," he said. "A lot of the guidance reflects existing practice."

"However, some elements of the guidance do rather stand out as more negative in tone and approach and, depending on how they are applied, could give rise to challenges for some technologies in future. As signalled in some earlier press briefings on the guidance, larger scale solar array development is being given a level of coverage almost on a par with onshore wind, perhaps signalling that a more rigorous approach can be expected in future," he said.

The publication of the updated guidance follows moves by the Government to formalise community consultation by onshore wind developers. Best practice guidance from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), setting out higher standards onshore wind developers will be expected to adhere to in relation to their engagement with communities, is due to be published shortly.

DCLG intends to make all new planning practice guidance available as part of a web-based resource shortly. However, the guidance in relation to renewables is being published ahead of this due to the "urgent need for new guidance", it said.

The guidance applies to small scale renewable and low carbon energy projects with installed capacity of 50MW or less, which local planning authorities have responsibility for under the Town and Country Planning Act. Larger developments fall within the scope of the Planning Act and the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime, although local planning authorities have a statutory consultee role.

The guidance states that local planning authorities can set policies based on "clear criteria", as long as these are expressed in a way that makes it clear that proposals will be accepted where their impact is or can be made acceptable. Among the factors planning authorities should be aware of when shaping local criteria are the cumulative impact of multiple developments; the local topography; protecting local amenity; and whether the development proposal could impact on heritage assets or protected areas, such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Local planning authorities "should not rule out otherwise acceptable" developments by referring to inflexible rules on buffer zones or separation distances between renewable energy projects and settlements, the guidance said. It said that "distance of itself" would not necessarily determine whether the impact of a proposal was unacceptable, unless dealing with "set back distances for safety". "Distance plays a part, but so does the local context including factors such as topography, the local environment and nearby land uses," the guidance said.

The guidance also makes it clear the community-led initiatives are "likely to play an increasingly important role" and "should be encouraged as a way of providing positive local benefit from renewable energy development". Local planning authorities should therefore consider whether to establish policies which "give positive weight" to those projects which have "clear evidence of local community involvement and leadership", it said. The planning regime should also be used to identify decentralised energy opportunities, such as encouraging energy development which will produce waste heat to be located close to existing or potential users of the heat, it said.

"The emerging guidance on promoting opportunities for decentralised energy and heat networks across infrastructure development - for example, the use of heat mapping - is in keeping with policy developments in Scotland and will be welcomed by many as a step towards a more proactive and strategic approach to heat networks, which should help ensure energy is used fully and effectively and not wasted," planning and energy law expert Gary McGovern said.

"It's also interesting that in the context of promoting certainty through spatial planning, it is suggested by way of example, that for 'onshore wind or large scale solar farms', councils should 'not have to give permission outside those areas for speculative applications involving the same type of development when they judge the impact to be unacceptable'," said Jennifer Holgate, a planning and environment expert with Pinsent Masons.

"This infers a presumption against development outside areas of search identified by a local planning authority but when read in conjunction with the remainder of the guidance it is arguable this presumption can be overcome if the impact of any proposed development is or can be made acceptable," she said.