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117WS<br />
Written Ministerial Statements<br />
6 JUNE 2013<br />
Written Ministerial Statements<br />
118WS<br />
These actions complement the policy changes that<br />
the coalition Government have already put in place<br />
through its localism agenda and the recent reforms to<br />
planning, which put communities at the heart of decision<br />
making.<br />
Investing in communities—benefits, ownership and improving<br />
local economic impacts<br />
Communities hosting renewable energy installations<br />
play a key role in meeting the national need for secure,<br />
clean energy. It is only right that local people should be<br />
recognised and rewarded for that contribution. This<br />
new package of measures on community benefits will<br />
ensure that communities receive a fairer share of benefits<br />
associated with onshore wind and are properly empowered<br />
to negotiate with developers the type of benefit package<br />
that best suits their local needs.<br />
Although many onshore wind developers already<br />
offer community benefit packages on a voluntary basis,<br />
we challenged them to do more. In response t<strong>here</strong>fore<br />
we expect the onshore wind industry to revise its community<br />
benefit protocol, including an increase in the recommended<br />
community benefit package in England from £1,000/MW<br />
of installed capacity per year, to £5,000/MW/year for<br />
the lifetime of the wind farm (usually around 25 years).<br />
To complement this we will be producing guidance and<br />
setting up a register of community benefits—so that<br />
local communities are properly empowered to discuss<br />
and negotiate the types of benefit packages that best<br />
suit their needs.<br />
We will also be exploring ways to make it more<br />
attractive for communities to invest in wind projects<br />
themselves, through the recently issued call for evidence<br />
on community energy. A joint DECC/DEFRA £15<br />
million rural community renewable energy fund will<br />
also provide loans and grants to rural communities for<br />
initial development and planning work.<br />
We will be working with industry and other stakeholders<br />
to ensure that the local economic and employment<br />
potential of onshore wind projects are maximised. We<br />
will also produce supply chain guidance so that all<br />
parties—developers, local business and local people are<br />
equipped to respond to these opportunities.<br />
The package of measures that DECC, DCLG and<br />
the onshore wind industry is announcing today provide<br />
a rigorous framework that will bring about real change<br />
and introduce more understanding, fairness, trust and<br />
mutual benefit between communities and the onshore<br />
wind sector.<br />
We will be working across Government over the next<br />
12 months to deliver this change.<br />
Costs<br />
We are committed to ensuring that support levels<br />
represent good value for money to the taxpayer and<br />
that they reflect the true costs of deploying the technologies.<br />
As the costs of deployment fall so will any support.<br />
We have already reduced the support level for onshore<br />
wind under the renewables obligation from April 2013<br />
by 10% (from 1 ROC/MWh to 0.9 ROC/MWh to reflect<br />
changes in costs). We carried out the second part of the<br />
call for evidence to check that this reduced support rate<br />
remained appropriate.<br />
A large amount of new cost data have been rigorously<br />
analysed by economists and engineers within the<br />
Department.<br />
The latest evidence shows that costs remain within<br />
the bands set out in the renewables obligation banding<br />
review. The mid-point estimates have, however, increased<br />
slightly, due to higher costs of planning, and operation<br />
and maintenance contracts. The change in the midpoint<br />
estimate of costs is less than 5% and thus within the<br />
original range.<br />
As this evidence does not show a significant change<br />
in costs, it does not meet the legislative requirements for<br />
a further review of RO support levels.<br />
This decision ensures ongoing value for money for<br />
the consumer and provides more certainty for developers,<br />
ensuring continuity of support as contracts for difference<br />
are introduced as part of our electricity market reforms.<br />
DECC will of course continue to monitor the costs of<br />
renewable energy technologies, in accordance with the<br />
provisions in article 33 of the Renewables Obligation<br />
Order 2009.<br />
Conclusion<br />
The measures that make up our response to the call<br />
for evidence will allow the deployment of onshore wind<br />
to the level necessary for our energy security and renewable<br />
energy goals, but will also ensure that communities will<br />
have a greater say over proposed onshore wind development<br />
and will receive more reward for hosting those developments<br />
that are taken forward. This is an important sector that<br />
is driving economic growth and I am determined that<br />
local communities should share in these benefits.<br />
1<br />
Sources: quarterly renewable electricity table ET 6.1; and quarterly<br />
electricity table ET5.1.<br />
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/<br />
energy_stats/source/renewables/renewables.aspx.<br />
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/<br />
energy_stats/source/electricity/electricity.aspx.<br />
Average household consumption (GB, 2011) can be found in the<br />
our regional electricity statistics <strong>here</strong>:<br />
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/<br />
energy_stats/regional/electricity/electricity.aspx.<br />
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS<br />
Hazardous Waste (National Policy Statement)<br />
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and<br />
Rural Affairs (Mr Owen Paterson): Having considered<br />
consultation responses and the report of the Select<br />
Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to<br />
the draft national policy statement for hazardous waste<br />
which was laid before <strong>Parliament</strong> on 14 July 2011, I am<br />
today laying (under sections 9(8) and 5(4) of the Planning<br />
Act 2008), the proposed national policy statement for<br />
hazardous waste. The Government’s response to the<br />
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee<br />
report (under section 9(5) of the Planning Act 2008 was<br />
laid earlier this morning.<br />
A written response to the consultation is also being<br />
published on the Department’s website at: www.gov.uk.<br />
National policy statements are critical to the new<br />
planning system, which will help developers bring forward<br />
hazardous waste projects of national significance without<br />
facing unnecessary delays. Decisions will be taken in an<br />
accountable way by elected Ministers taking social,