12:03 Angela Eagle (Labour)

The Rio plus 20 summit, the biggest meeting on the environment in 20 years, has been moved to avoid a clash with the diamond jubilee celebrations and to allow the attendance of all 54 Commonwealth leaders, but, despite the Prime Minister’s pre-election pledge to lead the “greenest Government ever”, we hear this week that he does not plan to attend. Does the Leader of the House agree that, by not attending, the Prime Minister is failing to show any leadership at all on climate change, despite his pre-election posturing and husky-hugging photo calls? Is it not now clear that the Government’s green credentials are being put in the bin quicker than the constituency correspondence of the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, the right hon. Member for West Dorset (Mr Letwin)?

May we have a debate on renewable energy to discuss whether the time has come to follow the Danish model wherein local communities, which often see no direct benefit from wind farms, are compensated by developers should there be a loss of local amenities and a reduction in house prices?

I will bring my hon. Friend’s suggestion to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. My hon. Friend will know that built into the planning system are incentives that encourage local people’s benefiting from some of the planning approvals awarded, particularly in the case of new development, and I will see whether that might be extended. My understanding is that in many cases there are benefits to the local community where, for example, wind energy is harnessed and that energy can be used in the first instance by local people.

I understand the concern that the right hon. Gentleman expresses. He will have had an opportunity to register that concern when the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker) addressed the House on feed-in tariffs on Monday last week. He will know that the position we inherited was unstable and unsustainable. There was no mechanism for responding to increased demand and the lower cost of solar panels. If my hon. Friend had not announced those changes, there would have been an extra burden on consumers and the available sum would have run out. That is the background to the decision. I am afraid that I cannot promise a debate before 12 December.

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