Industry has welcomed the introduction of new UK legislation that pledges to improve planning processes for major energy infrastructure projects.
The government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill received Royal Assent today (18 December), the final sign-off needed to enact the policy into law.
The Bill, which also applies to various other sectors such as housing and transport, includes a package of reforms that officials say will remove bottlenecks and delays in the planning system, helping to accelerate the delivery of critical national infrastructure projects, including wind farms and electricity networks.
Specific measures include limiting the number of attempts that can be made at challenging government decisions on infrastructure projects, streamlining the pre-application process, and enabling electricity bill discounts for communities close to new transmission schemes.
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “We promised to grasp the nettle of planning reform – and we’re delivering. This landmark legislation ends years of dither and delay that has held back too many vital projects.”
ScottishPower chief executive Keith Anderson welcomed the Bill as a “positive step toward accelerating clean infrastructure projects and improving energy security”.
“Our £24bn investment plan is already under way, creating thousands of green jobs as we upgrade our electricity infrastructure, replace power lines that are almost a century old, and create capacity on the grid for more clean electricity,” he said.
“Streamlining planning processes is vital as we go further and faster towards upgrading Britain’s infrastructure. So too is having the appetite and desire to drive growth through investment.”
RenewableUK’s head of policy Steven Agnew added: “This landmark piece of legislation will help to streamline and speed up the planning process, removing unnecessary delays to vital new clean energy infrastructure and ensuring that only the most sustainable projects get built in the right places.
“We’re particularly pleased with measures to provide better training for local planning authorities so that they can make well-informed decisions on applications to build renewable energy projects.
“We also welcome changes to the judicial review process to ensure that legal challenges are fair and proportionate, and a smarter pre-application process for developers which will lead to better outcomes for local communities.”