UK's new energy secretary to give locals power to decide on onshore wind

Giving local communities powers to stop onshore wind farms is one of the first things on the agenda of the new UK energy secretary, Amber Rudd.

Rudd, personally, enjoys the turbines but her position is that they cannot be built on scale in places where people do not want them, she told The Sunday Times.

Under a planned legislation, wind farms will be given the green lights by local planning authorities, which will be obliged to consult residents. Currently, the decision whether wind parks of above 50 MW are build lies with a government agency.

The new legislation will make a part of the Queen's speech this month and is expected to become a law by the middle of 2016. It will also end subsidies for new onshore wind development. The plans are for "no more onshore wind farm subsidies and no more onshore wind farms without local community support," Rudd said. These new rules will apply only for new project applications.

The Sunday Times interview is in line with the Conservatives' pre-election manifesto, which pledged to halt the spread of onshore wind farms. Rudd was also cited as saying that the government would seek to accelerate shale gas extraction and ease up rules to allow extraction from under national parks.

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