As we set out earlier this year, 2014 was not the best year in terms of wind generation appeal decisions. Has the first quarter of 2015 been any more fruitful, or are we continuing in the same direction as last year?

Unfortunately, it appears that we seem to be following the same path.

During the first 3 months of 2015 there have been 61 wind generation appeals.

The breakdown of the above appeals is as follows:

•  Single turbine schemes made up 80% of the appeals, and have resulted in only a 24% success rate;

•  Schemes of two turbines or more responsible for the remaining 20%, with a higher rate of success at 40%.

This results in a very low success rate of only 26%. Given overall approval rate for wind generation appeals in 2014 was approx. 38%, things seem to be going from bad to worse.

With the election imminent changes may be afoot. As for who will be making those changes, we are still a couple of weeks from knowing.