In December 2010 the UK Government published a work plan setting out their approach to major infrastructure planning. Below is an extract of this document which can be downloaded from the Department for Communities and Local Government (Major infrastructure planning reform: work plan).
“Introduction
Securing investment in new nationally significant infrastructure – energy, road, waste, rail and water is essential to deliver the Government’s commitment to sustainable growth in the UK over the coming decades. It is an integral part of the Government’s efforts to rebuild the UK economy and provide new jobs.
In order to meet this ambition the planning regime for major infrastructure must be an enabling system: rapid, predictable, transparent and democratically accountable. We cannot expect to meet the needs of tomorrow with yesterday’s infrastructure and we cannot secure essential investment without a planning system designed to meet this need.
The Government made clear its commitment to new infrastructure in the October 2010 Spending Review, highlighting the £200bn of private and public sector investment which is expected over the next five years, including £30bn on transport projects. Total investment in the electricity sector alone is estimated at more than £100bn over the next decade
In October 2010 and for the first time, the Government set out a broad vision for the infrastructure investment that is required in the UK with the publication of a National Infrastructure Plan. Infrastructure UK – the body charged with the improvement of the Government’s long-term planning, prioritisation and delivery of major infrastructure, including the enabling of greater private sector investment in infrastructure, will oversee the plan’s implementation.
This work plan provides further detail of the Government’s specific proposals for the planning regime for major infrastructure. It sets out the steps that it is taking to abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission and relocate it within the Planning Inspectorate, the timetable for the delivery of national policy statements and the measures that the Government is introducing to ensure that it meets its commitment to a planning regime which is effective, efficient and transparent.”
The extract above is reproduced under Crown copyright license.
