Brighton & Hove Friends of the Earth

The announcement today that Government will  speed up the withdrawal of subsidies for onshore wind comes the day after thousands of people from across the UK travelled to Westminster to lobby their MPs on the urgent need for action on climate change.

Despite comments from Amber Rudd (Energy Minister) to the contrary, even the Government’s own research reveals that significantly more people favour the development of onshore wind than support the push to provide more of our energy from fracking or nuclear.

Callie Lister of Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth said:

“Given the urgent need to take action on climate change, and the unpopularity of harmful and costly practices such as fracking and nuclear, it seems crazy that the Government appears to be undermining a technology that has already proven to be a cost effective and sustainable way to tackle our energy needs. We need more clean renewable projects delivering low-carbon energy to help drive down energy costs and to meet our climate commitments, not fewer.”

Friends of the Earth’s renewable energy campaigner Alasdair Cameron said:

“While the Government rolls out the red carpet for fracking, they’re pulling the rug from under onshore wind. Proposed changes to the planning system could make it more difficult for local authorities to give the go-ahead to new wind installations – even if it’s the local community who want to build and run them. Basically you get fracking whether you like it or not – but if you want wind, you may miss out.”