17 August 2007
Planners have welcomed government moves to encourage businesses to go green by making it easier for them to install solar panels and wind turbines.
Currently, planning permission is needed for these small modifications. Applications cost around £1,500 and waiting times can stretch up to 16 weeks with no guarantee of approval.
But this week Communities Secretary Hazel Blears announced that the environmental and planning consultancy Entec had been commissioned to draw up new planning rules to remove these barriers. 'This research will be crucial to working out how we can support the business world to do its bit, as we move to a zero-carbon culture,' she said on August 13.
Rhyn Smith, director of policy at the Royal Town Planning Institute, said planners' time was too often taken up considering these small-scale applications, which was not a good use of their expertise.
'It's a deregulatory proposal but it's one that should actually create a substantial win for the environment by creating more renewable energy,' he told Public Finance.
PFaug2007
