Britain's new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves first action has been to lift the “absurd” ban on new onshore wind developments in England.
As part of a first speech detailing the plans ahead of a Budget in the Autumn, Reeves said decisions on new onshore wind farms should be the prerogative of the government rather than local councils.
Reeves said: “We will also go further and consult on bringing onshore wind back into the nationally significant infrastructure projects regime meaning decisions on large developments will be taken nationally, not locally.”
Acknowledging there would be objections to the plans for wind and solar farms and and also its proposals for a major housebuilding drive, Reeves said the Labour government would “not succumb to a status quo which responds to the existence of trade-offs by always saying no”.
Shares in Greencoat UK Wind, one of the UK’s largest onshore wind farm operators, rose by 0.9% to 136.8p.