ABSTRACT
The major expansion of renewable forms of energy is now an accepted part of the strategy for reducing the use of fossil fuels and the associated emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) (European Commission, 1997; Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), 2007). The relative speed and extent of renewables development in some countries over the last two decades has been impressive (Coenraads and Voogt, 2006; International Energy Agency (IEA), 2008), such as the uptake of wind energy in some north European countries. Although the regulatory means of bringing this about has varied between different countries, planning bodies have generally been closely involved in the advent of modern renewables, and have brought their influence to bear on this changing pattern of energy production (e.g. Kellett, 2003; Khan, 2003;Toke, 2005). It is partly because schemes have been diffused that many planning authorities have found themselves engaging closely with the development of renewables. In some countries, such as the UK, planning authorities have found a new role in dealing with renewables because of their small scale compared to conventional energy schemes, which have traditionally been dealt with by central government.
