The government’s controversial Localism bill received its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday and looks set to move to the committee stage before the end of the month, despite growing fears that the legislation will result in serious delays to renewable energy projects and make it far easier for Nimby groups to oppose new wind farm proposals.

Speaking yesterday, communities secretary Eric Pickles hailed the bill as a radical piece of legislation that will “give councils the power and the authority they need to make sensible decisions for the area” and provide people with “new rights, new powers, new opportunities to act on the issues that matter to them”.

But concerns are mounting across the UK’s wind energy sector that the proposals represent a so-called Nimby charter that will allow councils to delay and oppose planning applications for new renewable energy projects, making it harder for the country to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meet its renewable energy targets.

“We knew it was coming,” admits one industry insider. “But that does not mean it is not worrying. We are trying to make it clear to government that there are some potential consequences to this bill that need addressing.”

Their comments were echoed by Dale Vince, founder of green energy provider and wind farm developer Ecotricity, who warned that the bill looks like “a potential nightmare for getting anything actually built in Britain”.

He argued the bill’s scrapping of the Infrastructure Planning Commission would serve to politicise planning decisions for large projects, a scenario that he reckons is likely to result in lots of fast-tracked nuclear power stations (supported by subsidies by another name) – and the refusal of a lot of wind farms.

A spokeswoman for trade association RenewableUK offered a more conciliatory tone, arguing that efforts to get local communities more involved in planning decisions could prove beneficial to the industry. But she acknowledged that people within the sector were concerned about aspects of the bill.

“The planning regime has been an issue for wind farm developers for a long time and we would welcome anything that makes people feel more connected to developments in their area,” she said. “But there are concerns that some aspects of the bill could result in renewable energy development being stymied by a small minority.”

In particular, plans for Neighbourhood Forums that would help shape the planning regime in an area are causing concerns amongst some developers after it emerged they could be formed by just three people choosing to “constitute” themselves as a forum.

“We want to make sure that these forums are actually representative of the community,” said the RenewableUK spokeswoman, claiming that currently the bill would allow people to create a neighbourhood forum as long as they “wanted to live in the area”.

As a result, wind farm developers are concerned anti-wind farm groups could set up Neighbourhood Forums in an attempt to oppose new developments.

In addition, the bill allows for councils and councillors to instigate a local referendum on any local issue, including a planning decision. The proposal is broadly supported by the renewable energy sector, but concerns remain that the long time frame allowed for referendums to be organised could lead to further delays in planning decisions.

“Under the current plans you could have six months to get signatures of five per cent of the population to trigger the referendum and then up to 12 months to organise the referendum,” explained the spokeswoman. “That is a huge potential risk for developers.”

Juliet Davenport, chief executive of green energy provider and wind farm operator Good Energy, agreed that delays to planning decisions of up to 18 months would be a “nightmare” for developers, particularly given recent figures showing the average wind farm planning application in the UK already has to wait 27 months for a decision.

Vince warned that referendums where projects are required to secure 50 per cent of the vote could result in large numbers of wind farm applications being rejected.

“A 50 per cent vote in a referendum to make something happen is a seriously steep test,” he said. “We’ve had whole governments elected in this country on less than 50 per cent of the eligible vote – the Tories themselves received less than 50 per cent at the last election. [It] doesn’t seem quite even-handed.”

However, Davenport said she remains optimistic elements of the bill will help to improve relations between communities and wind farm developers – ties that could become even tighter if the government moves forwards with plans that would allow local residents to enjoy reductions in their council taxes in return for hosting a wind farm.

“Although it looks like this bill will make life more difficult for developers in the short term, in the long term it will make us improve our community engagement and make sure more of the benefits accrue to local residents,” she explained.

But Davenport also argued that the final version of the bill will have to include significant safeguards to ensure planning decisions are not hijacked by anti-wind farm campaigners.

“The implementation of the bill needs to be well run and it needs to be well policed to make sure developers get a fair ride,” she said. “Anyone who takes on the responsibility of contributing to the planning process has to have a duty of care, be accountable for what they say, and only make decisions based on quantifiable and verifiable evidence.”

The industry is now expected to step up its lobbying efforts as the bill moves through to the committee stage to ensure that adequate safeguards are included and the role of neighbourhood forums and referendums are more clearly defined.

However, there are fears the government’s localism agenda is pulling in the opposite direction to its low-carbon strategy, with some ministers committed to passing an unamended version of the bill that will appease Conservative backbenchers and make it far easier for councils to block wind farms and other renewable energy developments.