It’s full speed ahead for UK infrastructure Fast Track Planning for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects
Amelia Hamilton
On 30 August 2022, in recognition of the need to speed up major infrastructure projects in these times of high inflation, the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Greg Clark, announced that major infrastructure projects across the country, such as road improvements and offshore wind farms, are set to be fast-tracked through a new planning system.
The initiative is part of the government's plans to speed up the planning process for large-scale projects; building on efforts in the Energy Security Strategy.
Under the Planning Act, a development consent order (DCO) is the means of obtaining permission to construct and maintain developments categorised as nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIP) such as energy, transport, water and waste projects.
To accelerate the process, the government intends to make changes to the DCO process through the following amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill:
- Fast track consenting: allowing the relevant consenting department Secretary of State (for example, for energy, transport, environment or levelling up) to set a shorter statutory timeframe for a DCO examination, where quality standards are met. For example, consenting time for offshore wind projects are targeted to be reduced from up to four years to one year.
- Faster post-consent changes: allowing the Secretary of State to set secondary legislation relating to the decision-making process associated with Non-Material Change applications. At present, it can take up to 16 months to determine changes to consents which are deemed non-material. This legislation is intended to enable the government to develop and pilot an improved, faster approach, bringing in statutory timeframes if necessary.
- Charging Developers for expert input: allowing government agencies, providing technical expert advice on DCO applications, to charge developers for their NSIP services, across the statutory and non-statutory parts of the process.
Reacting to the proposals, the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) CEO Stephen Marcos Jones said:
"Anything which brings additional clarity and speed to a lengthy planning process around significant infrastructure should be warmly welcomed.
A swifter planning process will ensure that environmental, social and economic benefits are realised sooner. This is also important if infrastructure investment is to realise its full potential in supporting the economy through the increasingly challenging times ahead."
The National Infrastructure Commission chair, Sir John Armitt, said the change is a positive one, but also called for further action:
"The challenges of boosting our resilience to energy and water supply issues has been thrown into sharp relief in recent weeks, and it makes sense to seek a faster consenting route for key projects that serve in the national interest. However, these changes must be accompanied by the publication of up-to-date national statements that set out government’s strategic priorities for our key infrastructure sectors.”
In addition, the government has awarded more than £750,000 to ten council-led innovative projects to ensure that the needs of local communities are reflected in the process. Those receiving the funding are expected to be particularly affected by applications for major transport, energy and water schemes over the next year, i.e. councils in Somerset, Cumbria, Essex, Suffolk, Leicestershire, North Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex and Norfolk.
Projects include:
- Norfolk Council's virtual system, logging information about local NSIPs including timelines, deadlines and contacts for applicants to see.
- Selby District Council and North Yorkshire County Council's collaboration on a multi-disciplinary environmental framework, setting out the local authority requirements for submitting an NSIP application e.g. landscape, biodiversity, environmental health and heritage requirements. The framework is intended to help to bring forward multiple NSIPs in one place and could be used by applicants, the council and the Planning Inspectorate at application and examination stages.
The Growth Plan (September 2022)
Around 4 weeks later, it was confirmed that legislation will be brought forward within months to speed up delivery of infrastructure projects. The list of priority schemes was set out in a “Growth Plan”, published alongside the then Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s, statement.
The Growth Plan lists 86 road schemes, 10 rail projects and 16 local transport initiatives such as metro and bus proposals that it wants to see ‘accelerated as fast as possible’. The ‘vast majority’ could start construction by the end of 2023. Although it was warned that inclusion in the list did not guarantee funding, planning consent or approval at this stage.
The Growth Plan also announced that new legislation will be brought forward in the coming months to speed up the delivery of much-needed infrastructure, including:
- reducing the burden of environmental assessments;
- reducing bureaucracy in the consultation process;
- reforming habitats and species regulations; and
- increasing flexibility to make changes to a DCO once it has been submitted.
However, not all responses to the news have been positive. Roads and climate campaigner Rebecca Lush from the Transport Action Network said:
“Accelerating the planning process for new roads could result in the bulldozing over of local communities, environmental protections, and democratic processes.”
Campaign for Better Transport spokesman Norman Baker – a former Transport Minister in the Coalition Government – said:
“While some expenditure on roads, particularly to deal with bottlenecks at junctions, is sensible, the idea that spending money on big road projects automatically helps the economy is flawed. New roads produce more traffic, increase carbon emissions and encourage a shift away from public to private transport, the exact opposite of what is needed.”
The Autumn Statement (November 2022)
On 17 November 2022, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, spared infrastructure spending from heavy cuts in the Autumn Statement. The chancellor highlighted infrastructure as one of three key growth priorities:
- promising that the government would “not cut a penny from our capital budget” within the next two years; and
- reaffirming the government’s existing commitments to delivering:
- the “core” Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme,
- the High Speed Rail 2 link to Manchester, and
- the Sizewell C nuclear power plant,
with the government looking to spend over £600 billion over the next five years.
The seemingly random list of projects that were highlighted for “acceleration” in the Growth Plan have been dropped. Instead, the government will seek to accelerate delivery of projects across its infrastructure portfolio.
The second tranche of the Levelling Up Fund is also going ahead, allocating at least £1.7 billion to priority local infrastructure projects. Successful projects will be announced later this year.
Some commentators are more cautious towards the government’s infrastructure commitments, noting that the government’s choice to maintain capital spending in cash terms for the following three years, rather than increase in line with inflation will hit hard (particularly with inflation at over 11%).
With the falling pound increasing costs of materials, will the funding be enough? Perhaps market forces will at some point reverse the fall but, with the growing UK debt mountain and the lack of certainty around the UK’s trading and economic status post-Brexit, it’s a challenge.
For the present, the chancellor has shown that the government remains committed to the fast-tracking of major infrastructure projects and the planning rules changes. This may jar somewhat for those local authorities not included in the Levelling Up Fund now being forced to scale back or abandon their own growth plan in the face of spending cuts.
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