A lucrative subsidy on wind farms which made wind farm build attractive has been halted by the Government. In short this move will make wind farms less economically attractive and should stop onshore wind farms blighting our landscape.
In the Morecambe and Lunesdale area wind farm applications are one of the largest post bag issues.
Speaking in the debate after the announcement Morecambe and Lunesdale MP David Morris said:
May I thank the Secretary of State for bringing forward this great decision? I pay homage to my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris), whose fight to get rid of these wind farms has been exemplary. Have there been any thoughts on decommissioning these wind farms over the next 15 years? Some have been up for 10 years now, and I would hazard a guess that that has probably cost more than many nuclear power stations.
In response Secretary of State for Energy Amber Rudd said:
My hon. Friend has raised an interesting point. It is in part of the proposals. We are aware of, and involved in, the decommissioning plans. No one quite knows when the decommissioning will take place, but we will keep a careful eye on it.
Speaking after the debate David Morris MP said: ‘I am delighted that the subsidy for onshore wind farms has been stopped. I know many of my constituents will also be pleased at the proposal as it will see new applications in the Lune Valley and Heysham dwindle and hopefully cease altogether. It will also see turbines which have been granted in the last few months be reviewed and if they have not already been granted access to the grid could stop them altogether. I will be asking questions in the coming weeks about what this means for the turbine granted at Heysham Port which I have fought against. This could potentially mean that it is never built.’