Labour has unveiled plans to allow wind turbines up to 30 metres tall to be installed at schools, hospitals and farms without full planning permission, in a significant shift aimed at accelerating the rollout of small-scale renewable energy across the UK.

Under the proposed changes, ministers will extend permitted development rights, currently limited largely to domestic properties, to cover non-domestic sites including public sector buildings and commercial premises. The move is designed to enable organisations to generate their own electricity and reduce exposure to volatile energy costs.

At present, homeowners can install small turbines without planning approval, but these are capped at 15 metres when mounted on a building and 11.1 metres when placed in a garden. The new framework would more than double that height limit for non-domestic use, allowing turbines comparable in scale to mature trees to be deployed more widely.

A turbine of this size can generate up to 50 kilowatts of power, which the government says is sufficient to meet the full electricity demand of a medium-sized farm or significantly offset consumption at sites such as schools and hospitals.

Energy minister Michael Shanks said the reforms would give organisations “the tools to lower their bills and make the best use of their land”, describing onshore wind as one of the cheapest and quickest forms of energy to deploy.

The policy comes against a backdrop of heightened energy price volatility driven by global geopolitical tensions, with ministers increasingly focused on boosting domestic generation to improve long-term resilience.

However, the proposals have already drawn criticism from opposition politicians and rural campaign groups, who warn the changes could sideline local communities.

Richard Tice, Reform UK’s deputy leader and energy spokesman, described the move as “intrusive”, accusing the government of weakening planning protections in pursuit of its net zero agenda.

Similarly, Sarah Lee of the Countryside Alliance cautioned that the reforms risk setting a precedent for wider development without adequate consultation. She said the key issue was not the turbines themselves, but “location, density and consent”, adding that planning rules exist to ensure local voices are heard.

Despite the relaxation of rules, planning permission will still be required for installations in sensitive areas, including conservation zones, listed buildings and designated habitats.

Industry figures have broadly welcomed the shift, arguing it could help address one of the UK’s core energy challenges, its reliance on imported gas. Nigel Pocklington of renewable supplier Good Energy said scaling domestic renewables is “the most effective way to bring prices down over the long term”.

The reforms also attempt to address the slow uptake of small-scale wind technology in the UK. Despite permitted development rights for homes being in place since 2011, adoption has remained limited, with just 128 installations recorded over the past decade.

That lack of traction has been attributed to a combination of planning constraints, cost barriers and public resistance, challenges the government now hopes to overcome by targeting larger, non-domestic sites where energy demand is higher and installations can deliver more meaningful savings.

For businesses and public sector organisations facing rising energy costs, the policy signals a shift towards decentralised, site-level generation, but its success will likely depend on how effectively ministers balance speed of deployment with local acceptance.

Amy Ingham

Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.

This article was written by

Follow

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said on Friday that she’s penciled in multiple rate cuts before the end of the year.

“I’m still concerned about the job market,” Bowman, considered one of the more hawkish members of the Federal Open Market Committee, said during an interview on FOX Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.” I want to see a little bit of recovery there. But, of course, I’ve written three cuts in for before the end of 2026 to hopefully support the labor market.”

Bowman also said she expects to continue to see strong economic growth this year.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said she has written in three interest rate cuts before the end of the year. (Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

FEDERAL RESERVE HOLDS INTEREST RATES STEADY

Her comments come after the FOMC on Wednesday voted 11-1 to leave the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. It marked the second straight meeting with rates being held steady after three successive 25-basis-point cuts in September, October and December to end last year.

Policymakers also released a summary of economic projections (SEP), which showed that the median projection for interest rates sees just one 25 basis point cut the rest of this year followed by a single cut of that size in 2027.

WILL THE FEDERAL RESERVE CUT INTEREST RATES IN 2026?

“In our SEP, FOMC participants wrote down their individual assessments of an appropriate path for the federal funds rate under what each participant judges to be the most likely scenario for the economy,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said. “The median participant projects that the appropriate level of the federal funds rate will be 3.4% at the end of this year and 3.1% at the end of next year, unchanged from December.”

During the press conference following the Fed’s interest rate decision, Powell was asked what officials were seeing that led them to project a cut despite higher forecasts for both inflation and unchanged projections for the unemployment rate and economic growth. 

FED’S POWELL SAYS IT’S ‘TOO SOON TO KNOW’ IRAN WAR’S IMPACT ON ECONOMY

“Essentially, the forecast is that we will be making some progress on inflation, not as much as we had hoped, but some progress on inflation,” Powell said. “It should come as we start to see in the middle of the year progress on tariffs going through once and then tariff inflation coming down. We should be seeing that.”

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, like Fed Chair Jerome Powell, said it’s too soon to tell how the Iran war will impact the U.S. economy. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The latest rate decision comes amid a softening labor market and growing uncertainty over the war in Iran. Similar to Powell, Bowman said it’s too soon to know how the conflict in the Middle East will affect the U.S. economy.

CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO

“I think it’s too early to tell what the longer-term imprint will be on U.S. economic activity and how we should think about that in terms of our longer-term economic forecast and how we should think about that in terms of our FOMC meetings and any rate changes that we might make as a result of economic evolution going forward.”