Renewable planning › Onshore wind › Bedford
Onshore wind planning in Bedford
Bedford has decided 3 onshore wind schemes and approved 33% of them, taking a median of 22.5 months to decide. Consented capacity: 9 MW. 1 application still awaiting a decision.
⚠️ Small caseload (3 decided). Percentages here move a lot with one more decision — read them as indicative, not as a reliable rate.
How Bedford compares
Against the 75 UK authorities with 5+ onshore wind decisions, Bedford sits in the 6th percentile for approval rate (35 points below the England average) and the 14th percentile for speed.
Decisions by year
Onshore wind decisions by the year the decision was issued (Renewable Energy Planning Database). Withdrawn and still-undecided applications are excluded, so a short bar can mean a quiet year rather than a strict council.
Every recorded scheme (4)
| Scheme | MW | Status | Decided |
|---|---|---|---|
Airfield Farm (Podington) Airvolution Energy · 08/02692/MAF · 46.8 mo to decide | 8.6 | Operational | 2012-08-21 |
Nun Wood (Bedford) Npower Renewables · 09/00137/MAF · 24.5 mo to decide | 18 | Appeal Refused | 2011-02-15 |
Nun Wood (Milton Keynes) Npower Renewables · 08/02118/FULEIS · 3.7 mo to decide | 9 | Appeal Refused | 2009-05-15 |
Airfield Farm (Podington) Nuon Renewables · 05/02589/FUL · 20.5 mo to decide | 20.7 | Revised | 2007-07-06 |
Does Bedford approve onshore wind schemes?
Yes — of the 3 onshore wind schemes Bedford has decided, 33% were approved (1 granted, 2 refused). The UK-wide rate for onshore wind is 68%. Note this is a small caseload, so treat the percentage as indicative rather than statistically robust.
How long does a onshore wind scheme application take in Bedford?
The median time from application to decision is 22.5 months, against a UK median of 11.5 months for onshore wind. That is measured between the submission and decision dates recorded in REPD, so it reflects the whole determination period including any extensions.
How much onshore wind capacity has Bedford consented?
9 MW has been consented across 1 approved scheme, with 27 MW refused. A further 1 application awaits a decision.
Other technologies in Bedford
Source: Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Open Government Licence v3.0 — 2026 Q1 extract. Approval rate is over decided applications only (approved ÷ approved+refused); withdrawn and undecided schemes are excluded. A permission later expired still counts as approved because consent was granted. REPD covers schemes of roughly 150 kW and above, is published quarterly, and does not record refusal reasons — so nothing here explains why a scheme was refused. Screening context for site selection, not planning advice.
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