Ministerial reshuffle
Last week's Ministerial reshuffle is notable for the micro renewables industry in three respects. First, the elevation of David Miliband to Secretary of State for the Environment in part reflects the Government's need to have a high profile and young moderniser to fight the climate change media war with David Cameron.
More importantly, it provides the Government with an opportunity to address urgently the need for more continuity and unity of climate change policy across Whitehall. We welcome the Prime Minister's proposal in his letter of congratulation to Mr Miliband that he should consider "setting up an Office for Climate Change, to develop climate change policy and strategy, working across Government."
In concrete policy terms, it's clear already that Miliband will bring a fresh intellectual rigour to combatting climate change, and the need in his words for an "environmental contract" for the 21st century, similar in scale and scope to the social contract of the 20th. In the short term, this much needed shake up at Defra, including a new environment Minister Ian Pearson provides the industry with renewed optimism in terms of addressing a range of issues that lie outside the remit of our sponsoring department the DTI.
Second, over at the newly created Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) we hope that Yvette Cooper's continuing role as Minister of State for housing and planning will ensure that the DCLG builds on some of the recent positive announcements on planning and building regulations from the old ODPM. In particular, we await Yvette Cooper's "urgent review" into the takeup of Merton style local planning for renewables policies with great interest, and urge her to resolve the continued uncertainties over permitted development rights for micro renewables as soon as possible.
Finally, our view of the changes at DTI is a relaxed one. For us the key issue is that the retention of the pro micro renewables Malcolm Wicks as Energy Minister should ensure that the Energy Review process builds on the modest measures contained in the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill and ensures that some much needed policy flesh is put quickly on the bare bones of the micro-generation strategy. We will continue to work closely with the Minister and his officials on the immediate issue of how best to allocate the additional £50 million funding for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme announced in the Budget.
