The government has U-turned over its ban on onshore wind by saying turbines could be installed if the projects gain the support of local communities.
The Department for Levelling Up has launched a consultation to “explore how local authorities demonstrate local support and respond to views of their communities when considering onshore wind development in England”.
Onshore windfarms were effectively barred under the leadership of David Cameron when he excluded them from government’s green energy subsidies.
And asked during the summer Tory leadership contest what his position was, the now-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted to Sky News that he stood by ban.
But there has been a growing rebellion on the Tory backbenches calling for it to be lifted.
Around 35 MPs – including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – signed an amendment to the Levelling Up Bill by former housing secretary Simon Clarke to allow new onshore wind projects in England.
The bill is due back in the Commons next week, and the government has already reversed its mandatory house-building target of 300,000 a year to try and ensure its passage.
But newspaper reports claim around 24 other MPs have written Rishi Sunak urging him to stand firm on the ban.