Government unveils moves to speed up infrastructure consents
Published 31 August 2022
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The government has unveiled moves to accelerate the planning process for major infrastructure projects, including offshore wind farms.
Greg Clark, secretary of state for levelling up, announced changes to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) process via amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.
This will include giving secretaries of state new powers to set shorter deadlines for public inquiries into development consent orders (DCOs) for NSIPs.
This fast-track route is designed to help deliver the government’s commitment in the British Energy Security Strategy, published earlier this year, to reduce consent time for offshore wind projects from up to four years down to one.
The relevant secretary of state, which in the case of grid upgrades and offshore wind farms will be the holder of the business and energy portfolio, will be able to allow fast-track consents provided projects meet defined “quality” criteria.
The changes will also enable decisions on smaller changes to already approved projects to be made much more quickly. These non-material changes can currently take up to 16 months, the government said, causing “significant delays” to the delivery of projects.
In addition, the government is giving government agencies, which provide technical expert advice on DCO applications, the ability to charge developers for their services on processing NSIPs.
The government will consult on its approach to implementing this charging framework, which is designed to relieve capacity issues in key statutory agencies that can cause delays, later this year
Clark said: “Particularly in a time of high inflation, things need to be done more quickly or costs of major infrastructure projects will rise.
“These changes will help deliver new infrastructure more quickly, by speeding up the planning process which often moves too slowly.”
In a policy statement on the changes, the government revealed it has also awarded £750,000 to 10 council-led projects to help ensure the needs of local communities are reflected in the NSIP process. It said it will publish a full NSIP Reform Action Plan and consult on energy national policy statements over the coming months.
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