It is always disappointing for British people to find out that other countries manage their public projects even more poorly than the UK does.

From the Millennium Dome to the Wembley pitch and the National Health Service computer system, moaning about how badly the UK does when it comes to large public infrastructural works is a national pastime.

So it was axiomatic among the country’s renewable energy enthusiasts that Britain had one of the worst systems in the world for granting – or more often, not granting – planning permission to wind farms.

But that turns out to be far from the case: rather, the UK is among the better countries in Europe for gaining a planning decision quickly.