Sir Keir Starmer says he will force councils to find windfarm sites

Sir Keir Starmer says he will force councils to find onshore windfarm sites as part of a push for green energy

• Councils would have to ‘proactively identify’ potential sites for wind turbines
• Communities would lose their right to veto onshore wind energy projects 

Labour would force councils to identify sites for thousands of onshore wind turbines, under plans unveiled yesterday.

Sir Keir Starmer said local authorities would have to ‘proactively identify’ potential areas as part of a push for green energy.

Communities will also lose their veto over such projects, he said.

Setting out his plans, Sir Keir also confirmed Labour would ban new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, despite industry warnings that it would damage the economy and ‘throw workers under a bus’.

England has had an effective moratorium on new onshore windfarms since 2015, when planning rules were introduced to allow a single objection to block developments. 

Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) said local authorities would have to ‘proactively identify’ potential areas as part of a push for green energy

Labour pledged last year to end the ban and speed up the process. Sir Keir went further yesterday, suggesting that councils would be set targets for ensuring new windfarms were built.

The UK has almost 9,000 wind turbines generating around 15 gigawatts of energy. Sir Keir said Labour would more than double this to 35 gigawatts by 2030.

‘We have to have a mechanism where we can move forward,’ he said. ‘Otherwise you get to a situation where everybody says, ‘There ought to be more renewables but I just don’t want it near me.’ We have to have a situation where we can resolve that.’

He also triggered a fresh clash with unions after confirming during his speech in the Edinburgh port of Leith that he would ban new exploration in the North Sea.

Communities would lose their right to veto onshore wind projects (File photo: A wind turbine in the Shetland Islands)

Sir Keir has watered down his pledge slightly in recent days to say the party would allow exploitation of the giant Rosebank field if it is given a licence before the next election. 

But industry experts have warned the wider ban on new licences will harm the economy. 

David Whitehouse, chief executive of the trade body Offshore Energies UK, said: ‘Labour’s proposed ban on new exploration licences is too much too soon.

‘It would be damaging for the industry, for consumers and for the UK’s net-zero ambitions.

‘The figures are clear. The UK has 283 active oil and gas fields, but 180 will shut down by 2030. 

‘If we don’t replace them with new ones, then production will decline much faster than we can build low- carbon replacements. It means the UK will become increasingly reliant on imports.’

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham (pictured) said oil and gas workers need guarantees they will not be ‘thrown under a bus in the transition to net zero’

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the giant Unite union, said: ‘Oil and gas workers need concrete, fully costed plans that will provide cast-iron guarantees that they will not be thrown under a bus in the transition to net zero. 

‘We don’t want to end up losing UK jobs and then relying on supplies from other countries, including undemocratic regimes with dodgy human rights records. We are now told there will be no ‘cliff edge’, but we need real assurances on this.’

In a sop to the unions, Sir Keir said a new £500million-a-year subsidy scheme to encourage manufacturing things such as wind turbines in the UK would require suppliers to formally recognise trade unions.

Sir Keir said Labour’s plans would enable the UK to generate 100 per cent of its electricity from green sources by 2030. He claimed this could save families £1,400 a year on their energy bills.

Labour would ban new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea (File photo: An oil rig in the North Sea)

Tory analysis suggests Labour’s plans would prevent the exploitation of reserves in the North Sea worth almost £90billion.

Sir Keir said there would be ‘amendments to planning regulation to ensure that not only do we lift the ban on onshore wind farms, but in the end we require local authorities to identify land that is suitable’.

He added: ‘There has to come a point if we are going to move forward where we don’t have individual vetoes across the whole country.’

Sir Keir said Labour’s plans would enable the UK to generate 100 per cent of its electricity from green sources by 2030. He claimed this could save families £1,400 a year on their energy bills.

But former Brexit minister said the speed of the transition was ‘not possible’.

Tory analysis suggested that Labour’s plans would prevent the exploitation of reserves in the North Sea worth almost £90billion.

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