Infrastructure dropped from the Neighbourhood Planning Bill
Chris Hallam
Helping put together deals for construction, energy and infrastructure projects.
In a surprise move by Government, the recently published Neighbourhood Planning Bill made no reference to infrastructure provisions or the role of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC).
Changes to the Bill included enhanced status for neighbourhood development plans, greater flexibility for modification of plans and the introduction of ‘a general power to obtain temporary possession of land.’
Whilst these all look like positive steps in the right direction, it has to be noticed about the lack of reference to the NIC and infrastructure provisions. The NIC was set up in October 2015 and is led by Lord Adonis with the aim of enabling long-term strategic decision making to build effective and efficient infrastructure for the UK. The former Chancellor George Osborne had originally committed to ￡100bn in infrastructure spending by 2020.
It was expected that the Bill would provide a statutory footing for the political independence of the NIC, in order to help ensure that decision making on major infrastructure projects would be based on long-term social and economic needs of the country rather than being subject to short-term political desires. The de-politicising of major infrastructure decisions would be a welcome boost to the industry and also provide politicians with some cover from being drawn into making decisions based on local rather than national needs. The ongoing saga as to additional airport capacity in the South-East is but one example of how political prevarication can seriously undermine infrastructure decision making, which in turn undermines the competitiveness of the UK.
Those operating and investing in the infrastructure sector will be looking for long-term commitment from Government, even more so after this announcement. It may be that Government are holding back on big strategic announcements ahead of the Conservative Party Conference in October, or even the new Chancellor’s Autumn Statement which has been set for 23rd November. Either way, greater clarity sooner rather than later would be welcome.