MINISTER MOVES IN LIB DEMS' DIRECTION ON BIOFUELS

THE government has offered hope to campaigners – led by Bristol City Council’s ruling Lib Dems – who are fighting plans for biofuels power plants.

A minister has written to council leader Barbara Janke (Lib Dem) in response to her letter calling for a change in planning law. She wants to make it easier for local people to challenge applications for such plants.

Climate Change minister Lord Hunt told her “the government recognised the need to update our planning policies on climate change and renewable energy”. Such policies predated the use of tropical biofuels in Britain.

Lord Hunt said ministers were committed to consult on the new rules and invited Bristol to “consider and respond to that consultation”.

Councillor Janke said: “This is a very welcome step in the right direction, signalling the possibility of an important change in the law.”

Some biofuels, such as palm oil and jatropha oil, are controversial because of how and where they are sourced.

Typically this is in less developed countries thousands of miles from the UK, where land was previously used for food production or other purposes important to the local population.

Lord Hunt wrote: “All renewable energy production must be sustainable – environmentally, socially and economically.

“It is UK government’s view that if biomass sourcing were to take place without sufficient regard to these impacts that its continued expansion and production would not be possible in the longer term.”

Liberal Democrats in Bristol have spearheaded a campaign to block schemes that are seen as environmentally irresponsible and harmful to local populations in the countries where palm oil or other biofuels are sourced, such as Indonesia.

A scheme for a biofuels plant at Avonmouth, in Bristol, was recently rejected by the city council’s development control committee. Planning is a quasi-judicial responsibility and the Lib Dem administration of the council had no influence over this decision.

An appeal could lead to a public inquiry with national implications for other UK councils faced with decisions on biofuels plants.

The government response to Councillor Janke’s letter makes it clear that ministers want to ensure that “biomass, whether imported or produced in the UK, delivers real and substantive CO2 savings, uses land responsibly … and does not undermine global food supplies or inflate prices.”

Lord Hunt also says the EU insists “only bioliquids which meet the sustainability criteria can be eligible for financial support; biofuels must deliver a green house gas saving of at least 35% and must not be sourced from areas of high biodiversity or high carbon soils such as primary forests …”

Barbara Janke has welcomed Lord Hunt’s letter. She said: “Bristol is at the forefront of a national campaign on this issue and it looks as though the government may be prepared to move in our direction.”