DLUHC survey on national infrastructure planning reform – Law Society response
The proposals
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is seeking views on the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) process.
It’s keen to hear from all those who engage with the NSIP regime about:
- what they see as the main issues affecting each principal stage of the process
- what potential solutions might be deployed to remedy these
Our view
We’ve recommended that the government:
- produces guidance setting out what information is needed for an application for examination to be accepted – this would be helpful for accelerating the speed and quality of NSIP applications
- increases the resourcing of local authorities and statutory consultees involved in the examination of applications for development consent – this would allow them to participate in, and contribute to, the process
Co-operation between government bodies
A difficulty when working on NSIP projects is the lack of co-ordination between relevant government bodies regarding:
- climate change (adaptation and mitigation strategies)
- other environmental issues
This is particularly so given there is no single body specifically tasked with co-ordinating these matters across government.
Enhanced co-operation between the relevant government bodies would be helpful for implementing projects.
The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) website
We’re also concerned about the capacity of the PINS website to host application, examination and determination information on the website for longer periods of time.
Next steps
The consultation closed on 17 December 2022.
The government is undertaking an end-to-end review of the NSIP process and all its interactions.