THE FOUNDER of Stroud’s green energy company Ecotricity, Dale Vince, has hit out at the government over its decision to end subsidies for onshore wind farms.

His comments came after the announcement last week that new onshore wind farms will be excluded from a subsidy scheme from April 1, 2016, a year earlier than expected.

Reports estimate that almost 3,000 wind turbines are awaiting planning permission and this announcement could jeopardise those plans.

Mr Vince criticised the Conservatives for what he called their “dishonest” double standards on energy policies.

“There are two issues here, he said, “firstly the Government justifies cutting wind support on the basis of saving money and wanting technologies to stand on their own feet. At the same time it awards a further 35 years of new subsidies to nuclear, and billions to the oil and gas industry to support it against falling energy prices.

“The IMF recently reported that Britain spends £30 billion a year subsidising the fossil fuel industry, that's over £1,000 per household. Onshore wind by contrast costs £10 per household. Government sentiments make sense, but they’re targeting the wrong subsidised energy source.

“Secondly, it's dishonest of the Government to say they are changing the planning system to give local people the final say on wind farms. They are simply putting decisions about exceptionally large wind projects (over 50MW), which currently sit with government, into council hands. In fact these wind farms are so exceptional that only 5 currently exist in England, a further 3 already have permission to be built, and there are none in planning.

"So the Government have just given a say, but not final one, to local people, in zero new planning applications for onshore wind. And projects of this size are so rare - it’s unlikely there will be any more coming forwards. It’s incredible to dress this up as giving new powers to local people - it’s a lie.

“Putting aside the dishonesty of the announcement, this represents a glaring double standard. Planning regulations stipulate that all energy projects over 50MW are decided at national level – this applies to coal, oil, gas and nuclear – yet only wind will now to be decided by local councils - the most popular and least harmful of all sources of energy. If the Tories are serious about this one nation thing they cited today they should apply it evenly across the board - give local people a say on all energy sources. But don’t call it the final say, since it isn’t.

“And then there’s fracking, probably the most unpopular of all energy sources, planning regulations and property law have been changed to make it easier, environmental standards have been dropped - even the requirement to tell someone you plan to frack under their house has been removed. There is no local say or veto here. And it’s been promised the most generous tax regime in the world. These are double standards plain and simple and they show an incredible bias towards fossil fuels and away from renewables.”

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has said there will be a grace period for projects which already have planning permission.