Octopus Energy has withdrawn its application to erect a wind turbine, some 294 feet tall, on a prominent site within the South Devon National Landscape.

The reason, apparently, was that it was no longer financially viable.

This will have surprised many. The price the government are now prepared to guarantee for onshore wind is higher this year than it was last, when news of the proposed turbine was first announced. That price is also now being guaranteed for 20 years, and not 15 as it was previously.

So if money was not the reason, then what was?

The answer could well be that earlier that same day, a copy of the Five-Year Review of the Bigbury Neighbourhood Plan had been circulated to parish and other councillors.

Updated to take account of the latest version of the NPPF, as well as other policies and guidance published since the Plan was adopted in April 2020, it was noticeable that those policies relevant to the proposed wind turbine had crucially not changed.

As a consequence, had the application proceeded to determination, it was almost certain to be refused.

That may well come as a relief to SHDC, which, in conjunction with both Sustainable South Hams and South Dartmoor Community Energy, will be hosting the South Hams Energy Assembly, taking place at Kingsbridge Community College on 18 October.

Amongst those expected to attend, we are told, are ‘community organisations, councillors, rural businesses, housing associations and other local decision makers’.

It is an event that Octopus Energy are helping to fund and sponsor.

The published programme includes five workshops, one of which is entitled ‘Community & commercial-scale renewable energy’, and whose speakers include Als Parker, the former Director of Development at Octopus Energy and Dave Omagba, an Octopus Project Specialist with responsibility for the Rolliers development, to talk ‘about the proposed Rolliers wind turbine in Bigbury, the Octopus Energy Fanclub and Plots for Kilowatts project’.

Of course, that may now change. But had the turbine application not been withdrawn, some would have been concerned by the Council, who, as the Local planning Authority, would have had to determine the application, ostensibly offering Octopus Energy a platform to promote the merits of commercial-scale renewables to councillors, even though the Bigbury application might at the time still have remained under consideration.

Were that to have been the case, eyebrows may well have been raised and questions asked. For example, did the idea for the Assembly come from Octopus? What caused the Council to decide to fund the Assembly, and did they know that the Octopus application would be forthcoming when they chose to do so? And what was the Council told about the Assembly when approving funding for it, and who decided that it should be funded?

Perceptions matter. And many might conclude the look would not have been good.

Fortunately, that is no longer an immediate concern. But what the Bigbury turbine does illustrate is the importance of having an up-to-date Neighbourhood Plan. Without one, communities have far less chance of being able to control what development takes place and where.

And now that the Council is no longer able to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ will inevitably impose unwanted and inappropriate developments in many locations, unless an up-to-date Neighbourhood Plan is there to provide some protection.