To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what (a) planning applications to local authorities and (b) pre-application enquiries to the Ministry of Defence for onshore wind turbines were objected to by the Ministry of Defence or Defence Estates in each of the last three years; and what the reason was for the objection in each case. (184413)

I have been asked to reply.

In the past three years the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has objected to planning applications and raised concerns on onshore pre-planning consultations as follows:

The planning applications to which the MOD objected, were 15 related to interference with air defence (AD) radar, 28 to interference with air traffic control (ATC) radar, two to interference with both AD and ATC radar, one to interference with NATS radar, and three due to an unacceptable restriction on low flying.

The success of the MOD's pre-planning consultation process is based largely on the fact that, until a planning application is submitted, our discussions with developers are strictly in confidence. To release the substance of our discussions before a planning application is submitted would inevitably deter prospective developers from using the pre-planning process or trusting MOD with details of their proposals. For that reason it is not possible to give the details of our objections on a case by case basis.