Government advisor calls for greater pace in planning
The government’s infrastructure advisor has called on the government to legislate to speed up planning system. In its latest review, National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) claimed its recommendations “could ensure that consenting for major projects would be completed within two and a half years, compared to the current average of more than four years.”
In its Final report of the infrastructure planning study, the NIC said: “Improving the speed of the planning system for major infrastructure does not need to come at the expense of good decisions which take communities and the environment into account.”
It went on to warn: “Longer decision making processes mean more uncertainty for communities while decisions are made. Similarly, inefficiencies in environmental data gathering and mitigation design slow down the process, but do not improve the environment.”
As well as a faster system the NIC called for:
greater flexibility – “to be able to respond to changes in technology and in legislation”;
more certainty – “the system needs to create greater clarity on outcomes and timescales of decisions”; and
better quality – “the system must measurably improve the state of the natural environment and the benefits local communities receive from hosting new infrastructure.”
In its review the NIC said: “In the next decade, the UK needs to consent and build transformational infrastructure including wind farms, electricity transmission lines, and reservoirs to achieve energy security and net zero, and build resilience to climate change.
The report said the planning system was currently too slow. It attributed this in part to sloth in routinely updating National Policy Statements and recommends making the review of the statements every five years a legal requirement, supported by a new process of “modular updates” to “enable changes in legislation to be reflected more readily”.
Other recommendations in the NIC review included
ensuring future National Policy Statements include clear tests against which proposed projects will be assessed, that they reflect the latest technological advances, and that they set out clear timelines and standards for consultation during the pre-application phase;
government amendment, as soon as possible, of legislation to bring onshore wind back into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects system – since planning decisions on onshore wind were returned to local authorities in 2016 the NIC said the number of installations in England have decreased by more than 80%;
a new central coordination mechanism, reporting to the Prime minister or Chancellor, to oversee regular and consistent reviews of National Policy Statements and ensure that consenting times for key schemes are shortened; and
service level agreements between statutory consultees and developers, with budgetary implications if public agencies fail to stick to deadlines.
The NIC recommends that local communities are offered more tangible direct benefits for hosting infrastructure that supports national objectives.
The NIC said benefits for hosting major schemes might include “proximity-based payments for households or funding for local projects.” The commission said the mandatory adoption of such a framework by developers would provide greater consistency at national level on the benefits received by local communities for helping the UK meet its infrastructure needs.
Chief Executive for Anglian Water, Peter Simpson, said: “Today’s important report is welcome. Its recommendations would significantly help to provide the speed, flexibility and certainty required in the planning system to enable action, secure future resilience, and realise additional environmental and social benefits for our growing communities.”
The NIC’s findings have been sent to the Chancellor and the Minister of State for Local Government and Building Safety. The government is obliged to respond formally to the Commission’s recommendations.
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