Written evidence from RWE Npower Renewables
Ltd (RWE NRL) (ARSS 41)
SUMMARY
For renewable energy in particular, RSS provided
a link between national policy and site-specific issues to be
determined by local policy. It ensured that the need for renewable
energy was explicitly part of the development plan and provided
a manifestation of the UK's obligations at a regional level.
Without the RSS the connection between national climate
change objectives on the one hand, and local decision-making on
the other, is weakened so industry has concern that renewable
energy developments will find it more difficult to satisfy policy
tests and gain consent. This threatens to reduce the pace of renewables
development in England.
To address this, the National Framework should include
clear guidance on the inclusion of positive policies for renewables
deployment in local plans, and give statutory weight to national
renewables targets.
Local Enterprise Partnerships could produce strategic
guidance that can guide the level of renewable development necessary
in each area, consistent with the sensitivities of each local
area. This should be a requirement for Local Enterprise Partnerships.
The move towards a low carbon economy should be integral
to local plans and to the strategies of Local Enterprise Partnerships.
Changes to the land use planning system in England
should be consulted on and implemented without undue delay to
avoid uncertainty and possible adverse impact on investment in
renewables.
We support incentivisation of renewables in the form
of business rates from renewable energy schemes being directed
to the local authority.
The retention of a strategic evidence base for renewable
energy is crucial, and the assemblage of such an evidence base
would be best placed at a tier higher than local authority.
The key aim for industry is to have a mechanism that
ensures that the national imperative to secure more renewables
more quickly is translated down to a local level as effectively
as possible, leading to balanced and consistent decision-making.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This evidence to the Communities and Local
Government Committee inquiry into the abolition of Regional Spatial
Strategies is provided on behalf of RWE Npower Renewables Ltd,
part of the RWE Group.
1.2 Although the Committee has specified it is
focusing on issues around housing, it will also consider:
The arrangements which should be put in place to
ensure appropriate cooperation between local planning authorities
on matters formerly covered by regional spatial strategies (eg
waste, minerals, flooding, the natural environment, renewable
energy).
How the data and research collated by the now-abolished
Regional Local Authority Leaders' Boards should be made available
to local authorities and what arrangements should be put in place
to ensure effective updating of that research and collection of
further research on matters crossing local authority boundaries.
1.3 This response focuses on these issues, specifically
in relation to renewable energy.
1.4 Whilst larger scale on-shore based electricity
generating assets (above 50MW) are expected to be determined by
a Secretary of State under the replacement for the Infrastructure
Planning Commission regime, most land-based renewable energy schemes
fall below that threshold and so fall to be determined by the
local planning system, which is the subject of this inquiry.
2. RWE NPOWER
RENEWABLES LTD
(RWE NRL)
2.1 RWE NRL is a major UK based renewable energy
company, focussed on the development and operation of renewable
sources of electricity for supply to the UK electricity grid network.
RWE NRL's generation contributes towards UK targets for renewable
generating capacity, and the electricity produced contributes
to the satisfaction of national and EU commitments on the percentage
of energy supply to be delivered from renewable sources. RWE is
committed to investing over €1.4 billion per annum in new
renewable capacity in Europe. Given the right regulatory framework,
we are keen to direct a large proportion of this investment to
the UK.
2.2 RWE NRL operates 22 onshore wind farms in
the UK with a total installed capacity of 423 megawatts, with
a further 15 consented onshore wind farms at various stages of
the construction process. The anticipated development pipeline
is extensive, with 15 proposals in the planning system and further
projects at various stages of design and assessment. RWE NRL see
these projects as important contributions to meeting the UK renewables
and climate change obligations
2.3 RWE NRL is also very active in the development,
construction and operation of significant offshore wind farms;
operates 18 hydroelectric generating stations with others in development;
operates three biomass co-firing power stations and is investing
€235 million in a new biomass plant in Scotland.
3. THE
ROLE OF
THE PLANNING
SYSTEM
3.1 There will need to be a substantial investment
in the UK's electricity generating plant over the next few years.
This is due at least in part to the decommissioning of existing
nuclear and conventional plant as it ages. This coincides with
the need to move towards the use of low-carbon technologies across
the energy sector in order that the UK's low carbon sustainability
obligations can be met. The Government's renewable energy target
is to generate 10% of UK electricity from renewable energy sources
by 2010 and its aspiration, as set out in the Energy White Paper
2007, is for this level to double by 2020. The Coalition Government's
aim is to increase the target for energy from renewable sources,
subject to advice from the Climate Change Committee.
3.2 As a minimum, the UK must meet its legally
binding target of 15% of energy consumption from renewable sources
by 2020 set out in the EU Renewables Directive, contained within
the EU Climate and Energy Package. The UK Renewable Energy Strategy
(July 2009) sets out the means by which the UK can meet this legally
binding target of 15% of energy consumption from renewable sources
by 2020. Building on the aspiration set out in the White Paper,
the Renewable Energy Strategy sets out a 'lead scenario' of at
least 30% of electricity to come from renewable sources.
3.3 Bringing this investment to fruition requires
a predictable and efficient planning system. The development of
new proposals can take many years before reaching construction,
and business needs confidence in the consenting process if it
is to justify that initial investment. Both the Low Carbon Strategy
and the RES highlight that delays in the planning system is one
of the major obstacles to delivery. The uncertainty arising from
the removal of strategic planning risks worsening this situation.
4. THE
ROLE OF
REGIONAL SPATIAL
STRATEGIES (RSS)
4.1 The requirement for RSSs came out of the
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 as a replacement for
the County-level Structure Plans. RSSs were formally adopted for
each of the English Regions on different dates in 2008 and 2009,
and have been part of the Development Plan since their date of
formal adoption. In addition, prior to their formal adoption consultation
draft documents were considered to be a material consideration
as they indicated direction of travel.
4.2 The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act
2004 section 38(6) requires that planning decisions must be made
in accordance with the development plan (ie including policies
in the RSS) unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
The RSS policies have therefore been an important component of
the decision making process—both at local level, and at
higher level by planning Inspectors or by Secretaries of State.
4.3 With respect to renewable energy, the guidance
in Planning Policy Statement 22: Renewable Energy (PPS 22) indicated
what Government expected RSSs to include. This was to include
criteria-based policies against which individual proposals might
be assessed, some spatial indication of where those criteria might
be met, and regional targets for the amount of renewable generating
capacity to be brought forward. Those regional targets were not
to include any contributions from offshore renewables, and could
be broken down into indicative sub-regional targets.
4.4 The role of the RSS was to provide a link
between national policy and site-specific issues to be determined
by local policy. The policies and targets adopted in RSS were
arrived at following extensive consultation within each region,
and having regard to the national targets for renewable generation.
In renewable energy terms the strategic policies drew upon an
evidence base to demonstrate what could and should be achieved
at a strategic level if the UK was to meet its obligations. They
were therefore a manifestation at the regional level of the UK's
national obligations and intentions.
4.5 As a result, the national need for a growing
contribution from renewables was explicitly part of the development
plan and was given substantial weight in planning decisions taken
both by local planning authorities, and by planning inspectors
and Secretaries of State at appeal. The inclusion of targets enabled
the national need for renewable energy, embodied by a variety
of legally binding targets to reduce CO2 emissions,
to be expressed in a form more readily comprehended and utilised
by local decision-makers.
4.6 There are many examples of where Inspectors
and Secretaries of State have taken explicit account of RSS policies
and targets. A recent example is that of the Green Rigg Fell Wind
Farm, Northumberland,[53]
where the Secretary of State concluded that the targets set out
in the RSS are material considerations in his determination of
this appeal, and he agreed with the Inspector that greater urgency
must therefore attach to securing appropriate development to meet
those targets.
4.7 The existence of such targets does not over-ride
other environmental and planning considerations, and there are
other examples where local environmental impacts have led to refusal,
notwithstanding the shortfall against targets. However, what the
targets do provide is a meaningful and clear way of dealing with
the need and wider benefits of renewable proposals within the
planning balance.
5. THE POTENTIAL
IMPACT OF
ABOLISHING RSS
5.1 The clear dangers resulting from the removal
of the RSS tier of the development plan are three-fold:
(i) The creation of uncertainty and inconsistency
in decision-making between local authorities, and also at the
appeal stage, through the removal of consistent guidance.
(ii) The creation of a difficulty for the decision-maker
in judging how to weigh the renewable energy benefits of a proposal
against the local impacts.
(iii) The potential diminution in the weight
to be given to the need and wider benefits of renewable energy
proposals.
5.2 The loss of the regional targets does not
in any way remove or reduce the national imperative to deliver
renewable energy, and therefore the weight to be attributed to
the benefits of renewable energy schemes in the planning balance
should not be diminished. However, there is a clear potential
for this to happen.
5.3 As an example of how this might happen, intentionally
or not, reference may be made to the decision of the Secretary
of State on 22 June 2010 for a wind farm proposal at Westfield
Lane, Wakefield. This decision was made after the Secretary of
State had written on 27 May 2010 stating the intention to withdraw
RSS, but before the formal revocation had occurred. In his decision,
the Secretary of State records that he gave the Regional Strategy
"less weight" because of its impending demise (para
9), and that whilst the contribution the proposal would make towards
meeting local regional and national targets, and its contribution
to meeting the challenge of climate change were material considerations
in favour of the proposal, the weight he gave to these benefits
was "tempered" by the fact that he "affords less
weight to the targets" set out in the Regional Strategy.
5.4 The concern of the industry, clearly, is
that as the connection between national climate change objectives
on the one hand, and local decision-making on the other, is weakened,
renewable energy developments will find it more difficult to satisfy
policy tests and gain consent.
6. THE WAY
FORWARD
6.1 The intention to remove the regional tier
of policy was well-signalled in advance of the General Election,
and comes as no surprise. The needs of some infrastructure development
can be catered for through the application of National Policy
Statements and the development consent process which will replace
the IPC. Most onshore renewables projects, however, fall to be
determined by the local planning system.
6.2 Renewable energy development is in many ways
strategic infrastructure in nature—it owes its existence
to a national need for energy supply, and it comes forward as
a direct response to the need to meet national climate change
objectives. It doesn't usually come forward in response to local
needs, either for energy supply, or for housing or employment
or other local economic drivers. But, on a national level, it
is acknowledged to be needed.
6.3 The industry acknowledges that under the
Government's localism agenda local communities should so far as
possible make the decisions that affect their locality. This will
require the industry to listen harder and consult even better
than hitherto. But even so, without some expression of the need
for and wider benefits of renewables in a way that is meaningful
for local communities and decision makers, we fear that progress
towards renewables objectives will falter.
6.4 The resolution of these difficulties seems
to lie in the following:
6.5 National Planning Framework
6.5.1 The Coalition Government programme set
out the intention for "a simple and consolidated national
planning framework covering all forms of development and setting
out national economic, environmental and social priorities".
We believe that this National Planning Framework needs to set
out clearly the place of sustainable development—including,
explicitly, the place of renewables—in national priorities,
and provide for the relevant degree of weight to be given to this
degree of priority in the preparation of new Local Plans. Such
priority will be meaningless unless it has quantified targets
attached to it at the national level.
6.5.2 Whether the need to accord weight to renewables—the
national need and targets, and the wider social, economic and
environmental benefits that the move to sustainable energy brings—is
provided through the National Planning Framework or through a
requirement for it to be included in Local Plans is as yet not
clear. That those benefits need to be given weight in the planning
balance does seem to us—for all the reasons given above—necessary
if we are to meet our national climate change objectives.
6.5.3 This approach would not detract from the
fundamentally local decisions to be made through the development
plan or the development control processes, but would ensure that
the wider context of the need for renewables is fully taken into
account in the planning process.
6.6 Local Enterprise Partnerships
These are intended to provide strategic leadership
in their areas, and to tackle issues including planning, infrastructure
priorities and the transition to the low carbon economy. LEPs
therefore present an opportunity to undertake that level of strategic
guidance, worked out by cooperation between groupings of local
authorities, that can helpfully guide the level of renewable development
necessary, which is consistent with the sensitivities of each
area. We believe that consideration of the move towards a Low
Carbon Economy should be an integral requirement of the plans
and proposals brought forward by LEPs.
6.7 Local Plans
The move towards a low carbon economy should be an
integral requirement of Local Plans, and they should provide strong
policy support for appropriate development that facilitates this.
As indicated above, local decision-making will need to have regard
to the wider context and benefits of renewables, either through
policies in the Local Plan, or through the national policy framework.
6.8 Speed of Implementation
Major changes to the planning system inevitably give
rise to uncertainty. It is therefore important that those changes
that are proposed are consulted on widely and efficiently and
then decisions made without undue delay, and promptly implemented.
6.9 Incentivisation
The government has previously stated that business
rates from renewable energy schemes will be given to the local
authority for local use, and this type of incentivisation is supported.
Developers themselves also provide local economic, environmental
and community benefit in association with their renewable energy
schemes; flexibility will need to be retained if these benefits
are to be designed to suit the needs of local communities.
6.10 A reliable evidence base
6.10.1 The letter issued by CLG on 6 July 2010
relating to the revocation of the RSS was accompanied by a guidance
note on the related implications. Paragraph 20 indicates that
the evidence base associated with former regional plans may be
relevant when considering the potential for renewable and low
carbon energy. It is felt this is a positive move, although the
guidance makes no reference to how any evidence should be used
and the weight that should be given to such existing documents
which supported the derivation of RSS targets.
6.10.2 Furthermore, several regions were in the
process of undertaking a review of renewable energy targets, some
using standard criteria to assess the capacity of renewable energy
produced by DECC.[54]
The use of a standard way of assessing strategic capacity and
setting local or higher level targets would be welcomed, as long
as cumulatively across all local authority areas the capacity
exceeded the need set out in national targets. This is imperative
as the capacity assessment does not include many technical issues
such as landowner agreement, access and site specific elements
such as Listed Buildings which could further rule out a large
proportion of sites.
6.10.3 The carrying out of such an evidence base
would be best placed at a tier higher than local authority, as
the capacity between district areas will not be equal. Some authority
areas may be required to deliver a higher level, due to a lack
of constraints when compared to neighbouring authorities which
may be urban areas or national parks for example.
7. CONCLUSION
7.1 With the revocation of the RSS, the key aim
for industry is to have a mechanism that ensures that the national
imperative to secure more renewables more quickly is translated
down to a local level as effectively as possible.
7.2 We believe there are opportunities through
the National Planning Framework, through Local Enterprise Partnerships,
and through the new Local Plans, to ensure that renewable energy
proposals are given the appropriate weight in the planning process.
If this is not done, investment in on-shore renewables could be
severely hindered.
September 2010
53 CLG decision ref: APP/R2928/A/07/2039188, 25 March
2010, para. 33. Back
54
Renewable and low-carbon capacity assessment
methodology for English Regions (DECC, March 2010). Back
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