Government promises planning changes to speed up delivery of vital infrastructure

Perceptual Robotics, a Bristol-based company designing automation and inspection solutions, has secured investment from the Deeptech Labs start-up programme.

Business News, Property & Construction

By Nicky Godding

26 July 2023

Share

Major infrastructure projects including off-shore wind farms, transport links, waste facilities and nuclear power stations, will be fast-tracked through the planning process, under plans announced by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The government is proposing to slash the time it takes for projects to be green lit, streamlining the current system, and establishing a new fast-track route to planning approval for projects that provide community and environmental benefits.

Measures in the consultation will mean faster consenting, more effective consultation and more resources. Alongside this the government has announced additional support for councils to help them speed up the delivery of vital infrastructure through the second round of the Innovation and Capacity Fund.

A group of ministers from environment, energy, levelling up and transport departments will drive progress, troubleshoot potential issues that hold up progress, and rapidly develop practical solutions to speed up delivery.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "Strong communities need to be supported by vital infrastructure; the transport links, power plants and buildings that underpin our everyday lives.

"Significant infrastructure projects don’t just ensure that people can get to work easily, do their recycling, and power their homes. They also create jobs, grow our economy, and help us become fit for the future."

Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: "It is vital we can deliver the major infrastructure we need to regenerate our communities and level up. But local authorities and planners face barriers and red tape which have resulted in delays impacting on homeowners and housebuilders alike."

These changes will make sure we have a planning system that is fit for the future and communities are kept at the heart of decision making."

We are getting on with the job of delivering the vital infrastructure that our communities need.

The consultation focuses on operational reforms to the planning system that the government hopes will streamline the consenting process to ensure that the majority of projects can move through the system more quickly, establish a new fast-track route to consent, potentially halving the time it takes for some projects to be determined, increase planning resources and incentivise developers to engage more proactively and effectively with local authorities and communities to ensure major infrastructure projects deliver for the communities that host them.

The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects consultation will close on 19 September. The bidding process for the Innovation and Capacity Fund will run until 25 August.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.