Oral Answers to Questions
George Eustice Excerpts(14 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Richard Benyon
I am happy to inform my hon. Friend that I will be spending Christmas in his constituency, because my in-laws live there.
The importance of renewables is known and agreed upon throughout the House, and the Government recognise the value of increasing the amount of electricity that we produce from renewable energy. However, we also recognise the genuine local concerns, which have to be included in the planning process. We are reforming the planning system so that it will give local communities more of a say. We want to get that balance right, because it has become skewed in recent years.
George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con)
As part of his discussions with the DCLG, will the Minister consider transferring responsibility for the management of the rural development programme for England to local enterprise partnerships where they wish to take on that role?
Richard Benyon
The Department is currently considering the best way of handling the RDPE budget in future years, and we will certainly keep hon. Members informed.