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921 National Policy Statements 1 DECEMBER 2010 National Policy Statements 922
As my hon. Friend the Member for Wansbeck (Ian
Lavery) said in an intervention, it is also important that
gas forms part of future carbon capture and storage
projects. I have heard the Minister refer to that, but I
would be grateful if he reaffirmed it and gave further
information. Otherwise, we will miss out on technology
that can be developed, tested and used in this country,
which goes back to my earlier point about some of the
jobs and skills that can be nurtured in this country but
exported elsewhere. When the Prime Minister and others
go off to China, India and other parts of the world
evangelising for UK manufacturing industry, there is
potential for jobs to be created in the whole of the UK,
not only in one part. That can help to join up the parts
of the policy agenda.
I want to touch on some of the issues of electricity
market reform. I know that I am getting a reputation
for being able to bore on about transmission charging
for ever, but I have about two minutes, so I will bore on
about it briefly. As the Minister will be aware, there is
considerable concern in some parts of the industry that
investment decisions are being limited by the current
transmission charging regime. Although the Ofgem review
is being conducted—I welcome Ofgem’s recent change
in stance—we have to be absolutely clear that as the
electricity markets are reformed the transmission charging
regime changes too. It was designed primarily for the
pre-renewables world and is not serving our interests in
achieving our overall targets for reducing carbon. There
is potential for that industry to develop, partly, but not
entirely, in Scotland, where investors could be put off
making a number of decisions on projects as a result of
the current transmission charging regime.
There has been a lot of talk about the importance of
the green investment bank. The idea originated under
the previous Government and has been carried forward
under this Government. It is crucial that we get the
model right. It has to be about levering in green investment
on a certain scale if it is to have any positive impact.
I use my last few seconds to reiterate my plea to the
Secretary of State for Scotland—which he seemed to
begin to agree with—that the green investment bank be
based in Scotland, given the industry and the expertise
that is there.
6.32 pm
Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con): I am
pleased to be called to speak in this important debate.
Like many MPs, I believe that the first responsibility of
any Government is the security of its citizens, and I take
that responsibility very seriously. Securing our energy
supplies is vital for the well-being and prosperity of the
people who sent us here to represent them. The failure
of the previous Government to invest, despite the so-called
boom years and their great appetite for spending other
people’s money, has led to our being far too dependent
on imports to supply our national energy needs. Why?
As we are discovering from so many other areas of
policy that we have inherited, the reason is the previous
Government’s failure to fix the roof while the sun was
shining. There has been a lack of coherent and consistent
policy to enable the UK to have a secure energy supply.
Like any industry, the providers of energy need a
clear and timely planning process, and the national
policy statements are a step in the right direction. Along
with proposals that we anticipate in the localism Bill,
they will create the right processes that will enable the
development of sustainable and secure energy supplies
for the UK. I believe that the new policies should
provide an efficient and democratically accountable
system, and a fast-track process for major infrastructure
projects. There is no doubt that there is an urgent need
for a new energy structure in the UK. In developing that
structure, the right balance must be struck between
consenting to and building new energy infrastructure
and the importance of protecting our environment and
the quality of life for those who live in the communities
where that important infrastructure is located.
Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con): I
wonder whether my hon. Friend might also emphasise
the great importance of ensuring that energy is affordable
for the poorest people in the country. There are some
high-falutin’ ideas that seem to add cost for consumers,
and they should be opposed.
Sarah Newton: I very much agree. Far too many
people in constituencies such as my hon. Friend’s and
mine, especially in rural areas, are living in real fuel
poverty and enduring the hardship associated with high
energy bills.
In establishing the right balance between environmental
protection and the need to build new infrastructure, my
hon. Friend the Minister must take very seriously the
points my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and
Hythe (Damian Collins) made about Natural England.
Many of us up and down the country face the problems
he described.
I welcome in the draft statement the recognition of
the important role that local authorities will play in the
development and consideration of proposed major energy
projects. The extent to which local authorities wish to
be involved in the planning process has always been,
and will continue to be, up to them, but the new regime
is a significant improvement, giving local government
statutory rights in the process and ensuring that its
views are adequately taken into consideration. In addition,
rather than imposing additional costs, there are potential
savings for local government from the new regime, as
shorter hearings and quicker decisions should ensure
that in future local authorities do not incur the costs
incurred now.
As hon. Members will be aware, I represent a constituency
in Cornwall, where we aspire to be world leaders in the
new low carbon industrial revolution. As a result I have
a particular interest in how the relevant parts of the
NPS support the development of renewable energy. We
are blessed with an abundance of natural resources that
make us ideally situated to develop significant quantities
of low carbon electricity to feed into the national grid.
In the universities of Exeter and Plymouth and the
Camborne school of mines, we have a world-leading
knowledge base in renewable and sustainable energy. In
local companies such as GeoScience and Kensa
Engineering, we have pioneering and highly skilled
engineering companies. The wave hub off Cornwall’s
north coast is the first of its kind in Europe and it
enables the testing of prototype wave and tide devices.
We have great light for photovoltaics, an abundance of
onshore wind and the hottest rocks in the UK. What we
do not have is a national grid infrastructure able to take