Worry over renewable energy goal

The government says it has tightened up the planning process

Devon and Cornwall is the worst performing region in England for creating renewable energy, the British Wind Energy Association has said.

Under government targets, the South West should have nearly 600 megawatts (MW) of green electricity generating capacity by 2010.

But the region has only reached 31% of the target.

The association said the main reason was the slow process in the planning system in Devon and Cornwall.

'Green' jobs

"It's taking 14 months to determine at local authority level for onshore wind applications and this is against a statutory target of 16 weeks ," the association's director of programme strategy Chris Tomlinson said.

"About 40% of these projects are then being taken to appeal for non determination or refusal and this is not a good sign.

"On aggregate across England we're missing the target by about 50%, but in the South West region we're not even a third of the way to achieving the target."

A spokesperson for the government's department of energy and climate change said in a statement: "Some regions have a lot further to go - and all of them will need to raise their ambitions.

"We've made local planning process in England more efficient - tightening up the appeals process, awarding costs for unnecessary delays, and calling in decisions to central government where needed."

A total of 600 new green energy jobs have been created in the South West in the past 12 months, with an increase in turnover reported, government agency Regen South West has said.