Tories Promise Communities the Power to Block Onshore Wind Farms

The Conservative party has promised communities that they will have the power to block onshore wind farms if the Tories win the general election in 2015.

The UK energy minister Michael Fallon will also announce that the new powers for local resident's will be installed within six months of the Tories taking office.

As part of the Conservative's pledge, the party said it will axe onshore wind farm operator subsidies but will keep those tax breaks in place for existing onshore counterparts as well as completing those still under construction.

"We remain committed to cutting our carbon emissions. And renewable energy, including onshore wind, has a key role in our future energy supply. But we now have enough bill payer-funded onshore wind in the pipeline to meet our renewable energy commitments and there's no requirement for any more," said Fallon.

"That's why the next Conservative Government will end any additional bill payer subsidy for onshore wind."

According to current UK government figures, there is currently enough wind power to provide energy to four million homes and this number will rise to seven million by 2020.

UK's onshore wind farms will still double its capacity by 2020, says the government, despite the cuts in subsidies and block on new builds.