Jason McCartney
Main Page: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)Onshore Wind (Planning Policy)
Jason McCartney ExcerptsUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Mr Prisk
The Secretary of State and I are strongly committed to ensuring that local voices are heard in the planning system. This is a legal process, and we need to ensure that it is conducted appropriately, but as my hon. Friend says, we are a localist Government with clear localist principles.
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)
There is an increasing perception among many people who have opposed wind turbine applications in my beautiful part of Yorkshire that local wishes have been overruled in favour of energy suppliers and landowners who have been pocketing the subsidies. Does the Minister agree that if such applications are to be approved, they must have the support of those local communities and they must benefit those local communities?
Mr Prisk
I know that my hon. Friend is an ardent campaigner on this issue, and his constituents are fortunate in that regard. He is right: we must ensure that local voices are very clear so that proper, balanced decisions are made, and people are not made to feel that their own considerations have been ridden over roughshod.