The UK is notoriously tough when it comes to getting planning consent for wind farms, forcing developers to take engagement to another level altogether.

By Karl Harder

The US Army provoked controversy when it revealed it used anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan to find ways of breaking down barriers between the Army and the local communities in the battle to win ‘hearts and minds’.  But the use of “ethnographers”, anthropologists who specialize in ‘deep hanging out’ with communities is now commonplace in such places as the NHS and many private commercial organisations.

Ethnographers work from a unique perspective ‘inside’ the community to provide insights which can revolutionise the way organisations seek to engage and co-opt communities to support their projects, which too often fall foul of a vocal minority of negative voices.

Understanding the potential value of such initiatives is important for the Renewable Energy Industry. This is because planning permission remains a major hurdle to the rapid deployment of wind energy in the UK, which is recognised as one of the toughest places in the world to receive planning consent for onshore wind farms.

While there are no hard and fast rules for speeding up the planning process, it is widely understood that community engagement is central to receiving a positive result. Community engagement has historically relied on a consultation process; in Scotland community consultation is now mandatory on all wind farm developments.

But as Rob Fryer, Projects Director at Community Wind Power points out: “Developers across the UK have been applying a voluntary consultation model for many years.”  However the consultation model is now coming under question.   

Community consultation

The aim of community consultation is to allow modification of the existing plan so that it includes the wishes of the local community. But all too often the process fails to win the full support of the local community.

Helen Watson Chair of the Anti Bodmin Lanivet Wind Farm Campaign complains that the wind farm proposed close to her was “sprung upon the community.” This is a common complaint. Watson explained that the first she knew of the development was when an environmental assessment was carried out close to her property.  “The land owner, developer and council had all been in discussions before talking to us.”

Such lack of communication breeds distrust. Lyndon Mason, who co-ordinates an anti-wind farm group in Norfolk complained: “The consultation process starts too late. By the time the community are made aware of the project, the plans have already been finalised.” 

Peter Harrison, director at Energie Kontor, emphasises that engaging the community at the outset is the key to a successful planning application. “Communicating that the idea is not set in stone is important. It is critical that community members feel they can affect the development,” he said.

Often, developers’ attempts to engage communities are hamstrung by a lack of ‘on the ground’ knowledge and insight. This can result in the developer’s communications being misinterpreted by the local community, according to Bruce Davis, an ethnographer. 

According to Davis, engagement is not just a question of clever ‘communication’. Engagement requires the creation of two-way relationships that enable members of the community to actively participate in the development process.  However, such relationships cannot be built on ‘official’ consultations, which often leave people confused and suspicious.

Instead, he says, the focus should be on creating social mechanisms that generate a mutually beneficial, reciprocal relationship between the developers and local residents.

Conservation banking

Environment minister Huw Irranca-Davies recently tipped Conservation Banking as having enormous potential for speeding up the wind planning application process. Conservation Banking, which has been trialed in the US and Australia with varying degrees of success, enables project developers to offset their environmental impact by purchasing conservation “credits” from either conservation banks or private individuals. In exchange, the sellers guarantee the creation of a new habitat or some other biodiversity program that meets the requirements of the local community.

While promising in theory, it remains to be seen as to whether conservation banking will actually speed up planning approval when put into practice in the UK.

It is also not yet clear as to how conservation banking will measure up against existing voluntary financing schemes used by the likes of Community Wind Power, which channels a portion of profits from the wind farm into local environment-related projects.

Changing the nature of the engagement

Despairing developers can find inspiration in the village of Fintry in Stirlingshire where, instead of opposing the scheme, local residents asked the company to build an extra turbine and sell it back to them. Their aim was to become one of the greenest communities in the UK. The Fintry turbine has now been operating for over a year, and has already earned £140,000 for the villagers. The money is being spent on energy efficiency measures for the community.

Davis notes that while Fintry was a spontaneous creation arising from the community itself, developers can seed this type of community action by building an understanding of the communities in which they intend to operate.

Rather than spending money on an impersonal, rigid consultation process, a deeper engagement process should be created where wind acts as a catalyst for community renewal, says Davis.  “When this occurs the developer will harness the power of the community as well as the wind.”