'Balance has shifted' on wind farms
The Energy Minister, Michael Fallon, has told the Today programme that the government has shifted its policy on wind farms to ensure there is a "better balance" between the wants of developers and the communities where they will be sited.
Planning guidance to local councils in England will now say that local people's concerns should take precedence over the need for renewable energy, and give more weight to the impact of turbines on the landscape and heritage.
Mr Fallon, insisted ministers are no less committed to renewable energy but said that the government was "changing the balance".
He said that he wanted to "give local communities more control over these things so that they are consulted much more fully" so that "we only have them where they are appropriately sited and where communities are happy to benefit from them".
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday 6 June 2013.
06 Jun 2013
- From the section Business