Minister Says Planning Reforms Are Almost Ready

The government is almost ready to take to Parliament its new planning bill, which aims to speed up the delivery of major infrastructure projects, Local Government and Communities minister John Healey announced yesterday.

Speaking at the CBI's Major Infrastructure Projects Conference, the minister said the current planning system is not effective and changes are needed to reduce delays and provide more certainty in obtaining planning for major infrastructure projects.'We need changes now in the way we deliver projects in sectors such as energy, transport, water and strategic waste in order to tackle Britain's long-term challenges such as competitive pressures, population growth, climate change and scarcity of natural resources,' Healey said.

The bill will try to speed up and improve the planing system through three key stages.The initial stage will be the development of detailed National Policy Statements for each sector . Then, a new body,the Infrastructure Planning Commission, will assess all new major project applications and conduct a public enquiry. Finally this non-elected commission will approve or refuse the application, effectively by-passing ministerial consent.