Planning, building and the environment

Planning Act 2008

The Planning Act 2008 (external link) was granted Royal Assent on 26 November 2008. The Act introduces a new stream-lined system for decisions on applications to build nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) in England and Wales, alongside further reforms to the town and country planning system and the introduction of a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Nationally significant infrastructure

The new system for nationally significant infrastructure covers applications for major energy generation, railways, ports, major roads, airports and water and waste infrastructure. National policy will be set out by Ministers in a series of National Policy Statements (NPSs). The Act also imposes a new requirement on project promoters to consult affected parties and local communities prior to submitting an application.

The old planning process for considering these infrastructure applications was slow and complex with projects often needing multiple approvals. The new system is intended to make the process faster, fairer and easier for people to get involved.

A new body, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), has been established and will examine and decide applications, based on the policy need set out in NPSs. More information on the IPC and its role is available from IPC (external link).

The Government has published the first tranche of draft NPSs, covering Energy (external link) and Ports (external link) for public consultation. Further NPSs will be published for consultation in due course covering National Networks (rail and major roads), Waste Water, Hazardous Waste, Water Supply and Airports.

In addition to this, the Government published, on 1 February 2010, guidance documents (available below) and secondary legislation (see external links on the right) relating to implementation of the new regime. This includes an impact assessment on the fee regulations which is included in the Explanatory Memorandum to the secondary legislation.

Housing and Planning Minister, John Healey, said:

"The course of our country's future will be set by investments in new energy sources, water supplies, ports, railways and other transport networks. The National Policy Statements do what they say on the tin - they are Britain's policy blueprints within which the Infrastructure Planning Commission will run a faster and fairer planning system, with fuller public scrutiny of larger developments.

"Instead of major projects going through, three, four, five separate applications, sometimes sequentially, there is now one single consent system, with one full expert and public examination. This includes new steps that require open public consultation before applications can even be submitted."

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