Andrew Marsh says the new government lost no time in making good on Labour manifesto pledges to accelerate the planning system for much-needed energy infrastructure. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill now has the green light and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has launched a comprehensive review of the National Planning Policy Framework. Gaining public and community acceptance will take longer.
In Itatiaia, the capybara was king – and so it should be, as the world’s largest living rodent. When Jaguar Land Rover developed land in the mid 2010s for a manufacturing plant in the area, up-state from Rio de Janeiro, it found that preserving the capybara’s natural habitat (in particular local forestry) was dear to the hearts of regional authorities and residents alike. The company expected education and environmental protection to be central to its partnership with the region – and it remains so today – but the capybara was one local element that had to be understood and respected.
The fundamental upgrade of our energy grids across the UK, facilitated by new legislation announced in the King’s Speech (17 July), will require the same willingness to learn about the localities where we develop new networks and upgrade old ones. That will not change with the shift in emphasis towards central infrastructure planning decisions.
Rachel Reeves delivered a speech at the Treasury on the Government’s first full working day (8 July), affirming that decisions on large developments will be taken nationally not locally, giving “priority to energy projects in the system to ensure they make swift progress”. She added: “We will build on the spatial plan for Energy by expanding this to other infrastructure sectors… we will ask the Secretaries of State to prioritise decisions on infrastructure projects that have been unresolved for too long.”
it was inevitable that the new government would have to tackle planning
Given its ambitious carbon reduction targets, it was inevitable that the new government would have to tackle planning, shortening decision timescales and streamlining the consenting process. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will accelerate the development of significant infrastructure, but it will not reduce the requirement for public engagement by utilities. Quite the opposite.
The key provisions of the bill envisage:
• A Simplified Consent Process for significant infrastructure schemes, “reducing the bureaucratic hurdles that currently delay project approvals”.
• Modernised planning committees to speed up application processing. This is expected to accelerate decision-making and maintain project momentum.
• Reformed Compulsory Purchase compensation, to ensure that compensation to landowners is “fair but not excessive”, balancing the need for development with the rights of property owners.
• More development sites by improving land assembly processes (for example bringing together separately owned parcels of land).
• Funding for nature recovery initiatives, to balance environmental conservation with the need for development.
Quick and effective implementation of all this and more is essential, if the UK is to have a hope of securing grid upgrades for electricity demand that is expected to rise by 50% by the mid 2030s. Add to that a new hydrogen backbone, to be built between major industrial centres, and the imperative to streamline these processes is ever more acute.
Decision-making timelines for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects have slowed this decade
The recent track record of major infrastructure planning supports legislative change. Decision-making timelines for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects have slowed this decade, with the average Development Consent Order taking more than four years, up from two-and-a-half years in the decade to 2021. Legal challenges have also increased since 2021 (four successful challenges out of 15), swallowing up time as well as reams of actual and virtual paper on expanded impact assessments.
These policy developments should not be a surprise. Labour’s manifesto was clear: “The current planning regime acts as a major brake on economic growth. We will set out new national policy statements, make major projects faster and cheaper by slashing red tape, and build support for developments by ensuring communities directly benefit. We will also update national planning policy to ensure the planning system meets the needs of a modern economy.” Note the point about communities. How do we build widespread support for infrastructure developments, and what are the ingredients for oiling the wheels and providing an effective legitimate, clean and transparent community benefit?
the scale of engagement the industry needs to have with communities over the next decade is unprecedented and daunting
Whatever the new legislation and regulations enabling utilities to deliver projects, the scale of engagement the industry needs to have with communities over the next decade is unprecedented and daunting.
The idea that local protests may be more easily overcome by a central directive also makes it more likely that local residents and business may feel “done to” by national authorities and large corporates. The energy industry and government should strive to avoid this outcome. The National Energy System Operator will deploy its public-facing Regional Energy System Planners (RESPs), which will help by providing a broader canvas for any local engagement that takes place, but RESPs are also embryonic and it is too early to know how they will work with any new planning regime.
In the meantime, while the extensive consultation of a development consent order (DCO) process can be protracted and painful, it does steer developers into a full and genuine engagement with affected communities and other planning participants. When it comes to regional or national scale infrastructure, development and construction directors shoud profit from retaining the best of the process, albeit streamlined. The discipline and method is systematic and sound, even if all the formal steps prove to be unnecessary.
The engagement and support flowing from a thorough approach is also helpful in ensuring regulatory funding; it was partly widespread support through a DCO that was instrumental in (then) National Grid Gas Transmission gaining approval to complete the Feeder 9 transmission tunnel underneath the Humber estuary in 2020, after a negative initial ‘minded to’ position by Ofgem. Two years later, the tunnel was transporting a third of Britain’s gas as part of the massive effort to secure European gas security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
National security aside, ultimately planning is about people. If we do not take enough time to involve customers and communities meaningfully and consistently (especially on the most difficult material issues) they will be reluctant to listen to us when we need acknowledgement or acceptance of the work that we intend to do. As an industry, we have the privilege of being permitted to develop important infrastructure in their neighbourhoods, and thereby make a massive contribution to UK society and its economy. We must remember to take care of the capybaras as well as the capital.
Andrew Marsh is an interim corporate communications manager in the utilities and automotive sectors.