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<p>Community benefit funds for onshore wind farms are industry led, voluntary initiatives,
which are agreed between developers and local communities in line with protocols that
have been established in England and Scotland. Trade associations are responsible
for ensuring that the protocols they have created are honoured by their signatories.</p><p>
</p><p>We have been clear that we expect developers to provide a fund for local communities
in the vicinity of their wind farms. Whilst in Coalition we worked with industry to
implement a new community benefit protocol for projects in England, to ensure communities
receive a greater level of benefit, and established an online register of English
community benefits to aid transparency and accountability. A similar protocol and
register has been established for onshore wind projects in Scotland.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance
has been produced by the UK Government to aid engagement between developers, communities
and local authorities when negotiating community benefit fund arrangements, which
is available online at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/363405/FINAL_-_Community_Benefits_Guidance.pdf"
target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/363405/FINAL_-_Community_Benefits_Guidance.pdf</a></p><p>
</p><p>This recommends that the agreement to provide a community fund should be documented
as a legal contract between the wind farm developer and the Fund Administrator, and
that a mechanism for ensuring that the community benefit provisions continue should
be included, irrespective of who owns the wind farm.</p><p> </p>
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