A landmark agreement has been reached between government and industry which aims to remove aviation and radar barriers to the major expansion of wind energy that has been outlined by Business Secretary John Hutton.

The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by government departments, agencies and industry follows the Prime Minister's commitment to find a technical solution to aviation and radar objections to wind farms.

In this agreement, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, NATS and the British Wind Energy Association agreed to:

• Explore innovative technological solutions to Air Defence and Air Traffic radar, as well as radar absorbent wind turbine technology
• Shorten pre-planning times, by introducing a web-based screening tool for the early stage of planning
• Establish a new Aviation Management Board which reports directly to Ministers
• Work with industry to establish financial and staffing resources dedicated to finding solutions

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"This agreement represents real progress towards removing a barrier to the expansion of wind power, while ensuring air safety and national security. This will lead to faster consenting decisions and help us meet our challenging renewable energy targets."

CEO of British Wind Energy Association, Maria McCaffery also said: "BWEA warmly welcomes the signing of this MOU as a vital first step in driving forward solutions to overcome the complex issue of wind farms and radar concerns. Wind energy is required to deliver around 30% of the UK's electricity by 2020 if the Government is to meet their challenging renewable energy targets and this MOU demonstrates the commitment of all parties to work together in strong partnership - essential if we are to respond to the scale of this challenge."

(JM)