The effects of 'going local' during the planning process for onshore wind power development

Abstract: In 2015 a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) expanded the Localism Act in England which effectively gave neighbourhoods the power to decide on onshore wind power development in their area. By doing so, the planning process for such development ‘went local’. Literature on the effects of ‘going local’ during the planning process for onshore wind power development is conflicting. On the one hand, the involvement of local communities can lead to a higher level of trust and hence a higher success rate of development processes. On the other hand, it appears that people are often reluctant to accept wind power develompent in their own area even though they are in favour of the technology in general.  This thesis explores the effects of ‘going local’, in the form of the WMS of 2015 in England, on onshore wind power development by investigating the local and neighbourhood plans, as well as the planning applications, in the administrative County of Cornwall with the help of qualitative document analysis and a thematic analysis framework provided by Braun & Clarke (2006).  The results show that currently 4 out of the 213 Parish and Town Councils in the ceremonial county of Cornwall truly comply with the WMS, which means that onshore wind power development will only be possible in these areas. The development in these and all the other neighbourhoods is limited to small-scale clusters of turbines. In addition to this, the results show that there are four over-arching aspects that play a role in the decision-making process of neighbourhoods: i) benefits for the neighbourhood, ii) negative impacts on the neighbourhood area, iii) socio-political attitude, and iv) conditions set by the neighbourhoods or local authorities.  The results show that, with the current planning policy framework in England, onshore wind power development will be limited to a significant extent in terms of size and possible locations. The conflicting literature on ‘going local’ reappears in the planning documents and a broad range of factors plays a role for all the neighbourhoods. The given weighting to the different factors is what determines a neighbourhood’s stance on onshore wind power development.