Dale Vince is wrong here, for of course he is

In a debate with Dominic Lawson about what we should be doing over Net Zero Dale Vince says:

We need to declare that wind farms, solar farms and pylons are vitally important national infrastructure and put them into a completely different planning regime where there’s a presumption in favour of them happening.

This is of course wrong. Usually it’s possible to tell that something is wrong because Dale Vince says it but this here is a proof of that contention. That is, we can use it as a proof of Vince being wrong, not just assume that it must be wrong - as is more usual - just because Vince has said it.

The initial contention, that planning laws are so restrictive that nothing can be done, is true. But the idea that some things are so special - speshul - that the laws should be changed is incorrect. If planning laws are so restrictive that nothing can be done then the planning laws need to be changed for everything. For we’re not just short of onshore wind - we’re short of housing, tunnels, factories, data centres and a great deal else. All hamstrung by the idiocies of the current planning laws. So, for the benefit of all those things the planning laws have to be changed for all those things - for everything in fact.

A presumption in favour of things happening is a good start even if not sufficient. We’d go further and suggest that everything be approved except where there’s a damn good reason why not. “Damn good” being defined along the lines of maybe not an airport in Fulham level of damn good. But well above the level that would be against a power station on the Thames in the middle of London. After all, the next century might rather like a monumental building to amend into flats in Battersea.

If the current planning system is too restrictive to allow important things to be done then the current planning system is too restrictive. We need to free all things of that clammy embrace, not just things that Dale makes money out of.

Tim Worstall