Home Wind Turbines Won't Need Planning Approval

Jun 26 - Daily Mail; London (UK)

Homeowners are to be given free rein to erect wind turbines and solar panels under changes to the planning laws.

There will be no need to seek consent for certain home modifications if they are seen to help the environment.

Critics fear the proposals will be a charter for millions to blight Britain with 'architectural acne', as the 'eyesore' devices mushroom across rooftops.

But the Government points out that it is legal to put up a satellite dish and the same rules should apply to 'micro- generators'.

At the moment, many local authorities insist homeowners apply for planning permission for such equipment.

But Planning Minister Yvette Cooper told the Observer newspaper: 'It is patently absurd that you should be able to put a satellite dish on your house but have to wrestle with the planning process for small-scale micro-generation, which is no more obtrusive and can have a real impact on tackling climate change.

'We are reviewing the impact of a wide range of technologies so we can take account of things such as the impact on neighbours or listed buildings, before consulting on details later this year.' At upwards of Pounds 3,000, the initial cost of turning a home into a minipower station can take years to recover through energy bill savings.

But it enables owners to trumpet their green credentials.

Hollywood stars Brad Pitt, Daryl Hannah and Sir Ian McKellen have all installed solar panels or wind turbines on their homes. And Con- DUE to the popularity of our recent Learn Spanish CDs offer, we are giving our readers another chance to claim the full set of eight CDs.

All you need to do is collect six of the differently dated tokens that we are printing in the Mail until Friday and send them with a cheque or postal order made payable to Daily Mail for Pounds 5.99 for pp to the address we will servative leader David Cameron and his wife Samantha are awaiting a ruling from Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council on whether they can erect a wind turbine at their West London home.

Neighbours have complained it would be unsightly and could drag down house prices.

Among the objectors is Barbara Want, the wife of BBC Radio 4's World At One presenter Nick Clarke.

Claiming the turbine would be an 'eyesore', she has lodged a formal complaint about the prospect of it blighting the Edwardian area.

Miss Want said of the Government's plans to relax the rules: 'I hope they exempt conservation areas.

'If they allow this sort of thing, it means one rule for those who can afford to go green and another for the rest of us who can't.' English Heritage also warned the proposals 'could cause serious damage' to residential landscapes.

To be effective, wind turbines need to be relatively large. One of the top models the Proven WT600 from Proven Energy provides enough electricity to power the lighting circuits of a house but stands the same height as a telegraph pole and costs Pounds 8,000.

A smaller model, the Pounds 1,600 Windsave 1000, is still nearly six feet tall.

Solar panels also need to cover a wide area of rooftop to supply a useful amount of electricity.

The proposals, expected to be announced in the next ten days, were welcomed by others.

Gideon Amos, of the Town and Country Planning Association, said: 'Current planning regulations were designed for a different era.' The Government has introduced a Pounds 3.5million grant system for the micro-generation systems, which can reduce householders' electricity bills at the same time as cutting the overall demand for power.

s.greenhill@dailymail.co.uk