John Bibby, Bradford Council’s senior policy officer for the environment, said the Council was “concentrating on the measures needed” to deliver 20%of power used by the Council through renewable sources by 2020.
He said: “Bradford Council’s definitive position on this will be developed over the coming months and will be set out within the finalised Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.
“Climate change and the use of renewables in the district is also being considered within the planning service and some use of renewable and locally- generated energy is likely to be expected in larger new developments.”
Solar power technology is already in place at Bradford Central Library, and Bradford City Hall and Ilkley Town Hall have biomass boilers. The Council plans to expand both practices.
Bibby said: “We are planning to establish a chipping and storage site for material sourced from the council’s own woodlands to supply City Hall.”
According to the BWEA report, so far, Yorkshire and Humber has only achieved 39% of its 2010 target, making it the third worst performing region
The Yorkshire and Humber regional assembly adopted a 2010 onshore renewables target of 468 megawatts (MW) but only 183 MW has been installed. It is thought another 140 turbines are needed to meet the target.
The BWEA report said 44% of applications refused permission at a local level were later approved by the Planning Inspectorate.
BWEA chief executive Maria McCaffery said: “The average time it takes for a wind farm to get through local planning is 14 months, yet it’s supposed to take 16 weeks.”
The report said at present, there were planning applications for wind farms in Yorkshire and Humber representing 250 MW of capacity still awaiting a decision from local authorities.
