Energy companies 'flouting planning rules with goodwill payments' - CPRE » Local Government » 24dash.com

The Government was today urged to stop energy firms making so-called "goodwill payments" to local communities to help smooth the way for planning applications to be accepted.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) claimed that a growing number of areas were accepting money to pay for lunch clubs or new sports pitches.

The money involved was a fraction of the amount developers were making from the public in subsidies, while council planners had little or no oversight of the payments, said a report.

Paul Miner, CPRE's senior planning campaigner, said: "These offers of community benefit do not go through the proper procedures of the planning system, unlike similar offers from most other developers.

"By accepting them, communities may also be getting a worse deal than they would if wind farm developers were made to offer them through the planning system.

"CPRE supports the need to increase investment in renewable energy, including wind energy, but "goodwill payments" threaten to bring the planning system into disrepute and are questionable even on the grounds of the need for more renewable energy. We believe that the solution is to outlaw these payments completely.

"Energy companies should be required to work through the planning process in the same way as any other developer."

The group said it uncovered at least 35 cases of goodwill payments being offered to, or accepted by, a local community in England, with the money being spent on schemes which bore "no relation" to renewable energy.

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "We are quite clear that there can be no question of planning permissions being bought or sold, nor can there be any perception that this could be the case.

"Our existing policy is clear - planning permission cannot be bought and sold. Similarly, planning obligations should never be used purely as a means of securing for the local community a share in the profits of development."