Energy Bill [HL]

Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2015 Lords Chamber

To ensure that projects which meet the grace period criteria and would otherwise have been able to commission and accredit under the renewables obligation by 31 March 2017 are not frozen out of the process, we are offering those projects which meet the “approved development condition” additional time to seek accreditation.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan (Lab)]

My Lords, before the Minister leaves this point, could he tell us, first, what sums are involved in these investment problems at present, how many of them have been prejudiced and how much they were worth in the first place? Secondly, will he give us some idea of the global sums involved in the whole sorry procedure that we are having to go through?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, obviously much is dependent upon when the legislation goes through, and that is in the hands of this House and another place. Therefore, I think it is impossible to say with any certainty—or even to give an estimate—exactly how much is at stake. It relates to those projects that have already deployed, and so they are being given additional time to deploy. It is for individual projects that suffer from this investment freeze to come forward. We have done this in response to the engagement exercise. It will not deploy any more wind projects and it allows those projects that have deployed, following our proposals under the grace period, an added period within which to bring forward their projects and have the existing position.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

I take it then that the Minister is unaware of the financial implications of what he is asking us to support this afternoon.

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, it is not for me to determine whether the conditions are met. There is a process set out in relation to those projects that would be able to deploy and, if they have suffered a hiatus, for them to come forward with the claim in relation to how much it is. It is not going to cost any additional money, because it just gives them additional time in which to deploy. As I am coming to, it gives them approximately another nine months. It is not an additional amount of deployment; it is some projects that will deploy being allowed additional time to meet the conditions.

--- Later in debate ---

What we are debating is a narrow issue. We do not need to fish around for strange arguments. I believe that we have a commitment, which was expressed in the manifesto. It was commented on during the election campaign by the Prime Minister and other members of the Conservative Party. I happened to be the president of the Protect Nocton Fen campaign in Lincolnshire. We were threatened with 20 wind turbines, twice the height of Lincoln Cathedral and within six miles of it. I campaigned vigorously and I hope that it played a small part in persuading the Prime Minister and others to ensure that the manifesto said what it said. I raised that issue many times on the Floor of your Lordships’ House and we had unanimity among the Lincolnshire MPs on it, yet it would have been entirely possible for the local will to be overridden and now it cannot be, which is very important. The fact that the promoters, Vattenfall, a Swedish firm, have now withdrawn their proposal brought enormous joy to people. They do not like their countryside to be defaced in that way. They do not want centuries-old views of one of the greatest buildings in Europe to be ruined or obscured. What we are talking about today is paying some regard to the will of local people, and I very much hope that that argument will prevail if we are obliged to vote on this amendment.

[Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan]

It is a bit rich, this casting aside of planning legislation and saying that what local authorities’ planning committees come to decisions on are somehow an affront to democracy. Equally rich is the Panglossian view that has just been expressed—or perhaps it is the reverse of Pangloss—that any windmill will be an offence to the eye and should not be allowed. There are a number of windmills, of the 10,000 that we have already spoken of today, which help the businesses on whose land they are located. These are not big landowners—I realise that Members on the other side of the House probably have closer knowledge of those individuals than do the ex-peasants on this side. In a number of instances, particularly in Scotland and particularly for hill farmers, were it not for the presence of the so-called subsidy to get the kit running, such farms would not be able to survive. In my own former constituency, in the Ochil hills, there is a big debate about windmills and their subsidisation, but the quality of the walking there, the attractiveness of the hills and the husbandry of those areas are down to the hill farmers. They depend on other subsidies, but they are never sufficient for them to make anything like a reasonable living. It has been said it is only the big, fat-cat landowners who benefit. Obviously, they will get their share and that is reprehensible; there might be other means of dealing with them in the future—Corbyn notwithstanding, I hasten to add. But it is a very one-sided argument to say that we should cast aside local democracy and ignore the economic benefit to vulnerable businesses engaged in agrarian activities.

[Viscount Ridley]

I thought that my noble friend Lord Cormack was saying the opposite: that we should not cast aside local democracy and should allow it to prevail without appeal.

[Lord O’Neill of Clackmannan]

The existing system may not be perfect and it is a source of frustration for many people, but it is tried and tested and it is seen to be fair. The implication of this legislation is that it is going to be set aside.

[Lord Cormack]

My Lords—

[Lord O’Neill of Clackmannan]

I am sorry. I realise that we are moving towards a vote and I do not wish to take much more of the House’s time. All I want to say is this. It is very dangerous for people, first, to reinterpret manifestos once they have been the substance of electoral victory; and, secondly, to use that as an excuse to undermine elected representatives and local government who have a sensible and fair means of determining the priorities of the planning requirements for all of the communities they represent.

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

My Lords, I do not wish to detain the House for long. When we engaged after the debate on recommital late last week, we hoped that the Government might have moved a lot further than they did. I acknowledge the amendments that have been made, but they do not go to the heart of many of the concerns of the industry. In fact, there is still a blatant unfairness for those who have observed good practice and have tried to work with local planning authorities.

On the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, that local democracy matters, developers have worked alongside communities and planning authorities, but because they did not take the route of having a deemed refusal, they are falling foul of this.