My hon. Friend has knocked the nail on the head. I have heard much in the debate about wind farms and how people are resistant or otherwise to them. Yet so little attention is paid to the vast amounts of space, particularly industrial space, that could be used efficiently. I believe that people who intend to develop large projects that communities are supposed to accept should be compelled to consider that. It would make them greener and improve their carbon footprint and could overcome some of the resistance in communities to built development.
There are no plans for the solar energy generation that my hon. Friend just mentioned. There are no plans for water recycling and no microgeneration provisions for the site. It is a scandal and a huge wasted opportunity. As I said, wind farms have been much criticised today. Why are we talking about building wind farms, nuclear power stations, and so on, on green belt when we are not saying that buildings that are already being constructed should be made as energy efficient as possible and hopefully generate energy that would go into the grid?
Surely more should be done to encourage applicants to build and invest in environmentally sustainable structures. That would lower their carbon footprint. Such disregard of green technology should mean a rejection. We should not allow plans to go ahead if they have not made even a nod to green technologies. How on earth are we supposed to meet our stringent targets when developers can simply build what they like without having to do that? That is important.
Energy Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Anne Main
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Monday, 7 December 2009.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Energy Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
502 c110-1 
Session
2009-10
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2023-12-11 09:59:49 +0000
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