Professional AdviceYou are here : In Your Area » Midlands » Regional News Archive » CLA » Environment
Government’s green integrity called into question The Government is in danger of damaging its green energy credentials and its business credibility by effectively pulling the plug on large scale projects to harvest solar energy - according to landowners in the Midlands. The comments follow the Government's emergency review of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for solar photovoltaics - the mechanism which guarantees a premium for green energy – and Energy Minister, Greg Barker's proposed reduction in the financial support for installations of more than 50 kilowatts CLA West Midlands director Caroline Bedell says landowners and businesses across the region have committed hundreds of thousands of pounds to projects aimed at delivering renewable energy from the sun on the back of Government promises that the FiTs would remain in place and unchanged until April 2012. The CLA says the U-turn on solar energy will undermine confidence and make the job of attracting investment into future renewable initiatives far more difficult. Mrs Bedell said that people had invested time and expertise - as well as hard cash - on the back of Government promises to maintain Feed in Tariffs until April next year. "This reversal will deliver a severe blow to the Government's green energy integrity. A more workable solution would have been to continue to pay the existing rates for solar PV at all scales to those who connect and register for the Feed-in Tariff by April 2012." "That could have been achieved without causing the imbalance in the support available under the FIT which the minister appears so concerned about," said Mrs Bedell. "The CLA has been lobbying for an increase in the level of funding for the last year. Farm-based anaerobic digestion units offer the option of driving down agriculture's carbon emissions, delivering cheap, sustainable energy and other wider benefits to the rural economy. However, the additional penny per kilowatt the Government has proposed is simply not enough to make a significant difference to the numbers of farm-scale plants coming forward." The CLA had, she said, been arguing the case for renewable resources for a decade seeking to convince the Government that woodlands could play a significant role in securing sustainable, renewable and reliable energy. "The Renewable Heat Incentive is very close to the scheme we have advised Government to put into operation which is a real victory for the CLA's long-term thinking and lobbying. "Renewable heat displaces carbon intensive fuels such as oil and coal. It helps drive sustainable woodland management, delivering wood as fuel in a process that enriches biodiversity and contributes to rural employment and income," she said. |
Contact Caroline Bedell MRICS FAAV
Have a problem - need advice? Midlands Office Knightley
Join the CLA today
The CLA Game Fair 2013
Partnership Opportunities Discover how a corporate partnership with the CLA could help your business. CLA Events in your area To receive our regular email newsletter containing advice and the latest news affecting the region - contact the office or send your email address and membership number to midlands@cla.org.uk |
RSS Feeds
Caroline leads the Midlands team and has overall responsibility for the management of the CLA’s regional business and membership.
A qualified Chartered Surveyor respected throughout the industry, she also represents the CLA on a wide range of regional committees and panels.
- Policy Topics
- Policy Topics
- Site sections
- Specially for members
© 2013 Country Land and Business Association Limited (CLA). All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as expressly permitted by law.
Disclaimer
No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action in reliance on or as a result of the material included in or omitted in this website can be or is accepted by the author(s), the CLA or its officers or trustees or employees or any other persons.
The Advisory Services are made available to members on the basis that members' rights to compensation and the liability (if any) of CLA and its officers and/or its staff advisers, are restricted in the following ways. In the event of any advice given by any CLA staff adviser being given negligently or otherwise being incorrect no liability whatsoever is accepted by the CLA or its officers or by its staff advisers concerned
(a) towards any person who is not the current CLA member to whom the advice was directly given,
(b) to any person in the respect of consequential loss or loss of profits, or
(c) to any person for any sum exceeding £50,000 in respect of any one enquiry (whether made or responded to orally or in writing and whether dealt with at one time or over a period of time).
Any person making use of the Advisory Services accepts such restrictions. Members should refer to appropriate professional advisers in private practice before taking any particular course of action potentially or actually involving any substantial amounts of money.
Please note that whilst the advisers are able to advise on a wide range of subjects relating to land ownership, they cannot act in place of a member's own solicitor, accountant, surveyor and tax specialist by, for example, drafting documents or corresponding on their behalf and may be precluded, by the rules of their own professions, from advising one CLA member against another CLA member in the case of conflict.
Solicitors Indemnity Fund . Solicitors in the CLA Legal Team are not covered by the Solicitors Indemnity Fund in relation to professional negligence in relation to any advice given by them.
Please note that from time to time telephone calls maybe recorded for training purposes.