Infrastructure Planning Commission Established

The Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) has been established on 1 October 2009.

Established by the 2008 Planning Act, the IPC is the new planning regime that will now determine planning applications of nationally important infrastructure projects such as power stations, ports, motorways and other nationally required infrastructure projects. These applications will now be determined by the IPC and not the Local Planning Authority.

The objective is speed up the planning process for determining such major infrastructure planning applications - hitherto such projects often took many years to determine, for example, Heathrow's Terminal 5, at lengthy and costly public inquiries.

The IPC expects to begin handling applications for energy and transport projects from March 2010 and according to the IPC's chair, Sir Michael Pitt, they anticipate to determine around 50 schemes during the next year - the majority of which are expected to be energy schemes.

The new infrastructure applications will be assessed against National Policy Statements (NPSs). However, the NPPSs are yet to published because they firstly need to be consulted upon and scrutinised by Parliament.
This consultation process is now due to commence; it is the Government's intention to publish NPSs covering Nuclear Power; Renewable Energy; Electricity Networks; Fossil Fuel Generation; Oil and Gas Infrastructure; Ports and National Networks (road and rail) during the autumn. Subject to the outcome of public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, the Government expects these NPSs to be designated over the course of next year.

The remaining four NPSs are being produced on a longer timeframe, with consultation on the Waste Water NPSs in spring 2010 and the Hazardous Waste NPS in summer 2010, with the aim of designating them in 2011. The Government also intends to consult on the Airports NPS by 2011 with a view to designating it later that year. Finally the Government hopes to consult on the Water Supply NPS in late 2010 - once the final Water Resource Management Plans are published, which are needed to inform the NPS - with the aim of designating that NPS by early 2012. Where a relevant NPS is in place, it will then take the decision. If the relevant NPS has yet to be designated, the IPC will instead report with a recommendation to ministers.

Housing and Planning Minister John Healey said:

"Improving the UK's infrastructure now and in the future is critical to maintaining and improving our quality of life, protecting our prosperity and safeguarding the environment in an increasingly competitive global economy."

The new planning system will be fairer and faster, cutting the time taken to make decisions from up to seven years down to under a year. The interests of the public will come first and there will be more and better opportunities for opinions to be heard at more stages in the process.

"Investors have told us they want certainty and predictability about how the new regime will work. From today, businesses will receive guidance from the IPC on what their applications should include and crucially how to consult with the public before they are submitted. From 1 March next year, the IPC will start accepting applications for energy and transport projects.

"The IPC will then help us develop energy infrastructure such as wind power to cut our fossil fuel addiction and meet our ambitious low-carbon goals. Reforming the system means faster decisions on many low-carbon power sources, and the country could save £300m a year."
 

The CBI have welcomed the launch of the commission. Deputy director-general John Cridland said:
 

"For too long infrastructure schemes of major national importance have ended up getting bogged down in planning delays. We urgently need new nuclear power stations and wind farms to bolster our energy security and cut carbon emissions."

However this view is not shared by the Shadow Conservative Planning Minister, Bob Neil, who promises to abolish the IPC should a Conservative Government be elected. Speaking about the IPC, he said that "The people and their representatives are being disenfranchised on a massive scale by the most unaccountable quangocrats ever created" The Conservative's proposed abolition of the IPC and Regional Planning Agencies is likely to be a central component of the Conservative Party's Planning Green Paper to be published in October.

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