Policy News

Monday 09 November 2009

Each National Policy Statement (NPS) will determine overall policy on different types of new developments - including the national need for these developments and, in some instances - such as nuclear power - their possible locations.

NPSs due to be published focus on renewable energy, fossil fuels, oil and gas supply and storage, electricity networks, power lines and will be accompanied by an over-arching energy statement.

Streamline

The NPSs will inform the work of the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) which was established in October 2009 to streamline the planning process. While the IPC is not accountable to the public, it will make decisions on major projects in line with each NPS.

Under changes to the planning laws, the IPC will be able to speed up proposals for new schemes if they are line with the policy statements.

In a short video explaining why the NPS's are important, Ed Miliband said: "We know the low carbon transition is a huge challenge. We have set out the targets; we have set out the plan this summer, now we need to move on to getting the actions in place to make it happen.

"That is why the National Policy Statements and Infrastructure Planning Commission are important, because the truth is we are not going to be able to deliver a 21^st century energy system with a 20^th century planning system."

Criticism

However, the policy statements have already faced criticism for failing to address renewable power projects.

Director of policy at the Renewable Energy Association (REA), Gaynor Hartnell, said: "We welcome the speeding up of decisions on transmission lines, but the National Policy Statements won't make much difference when it comes to renewable power projects."

The policy director added: "Local authorities will still determine the vast majority of project decisions, and that regime is crying out to be made more consistent and efficient.  The guidance could have been written with this objective in mind, but the opportunity was wasted.  It should have been the last word on a raft of questions that come up time and again in the local decision-making process, but which are best addressed nationally. Local authorities should deal only with location-specific issues, and the NPS could have been used as a means of enforcing this."

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) has also commented on the NPS's ahead of their publication, welcoming the inauguration of the IPC in helping to determine the four onshore wind farms and one offshore wind farm project currently in pre-planning "much faster than under current consenting regimes."

BWEA also hopes that, although NPSs are primarily designed to assist the IPC, these policies will be of material consideration under the local town and country planning system in England and Wales, and sees a valuable role for the IPC in bringing forward essential grid infrastructure and offshore wind.

Battle

Friends of the Earth has also called for "the battle against climate change" to be at the core of the government's draft National Policy Statements, claiming the NPSs must clearly set out the impact of developments on UK carbon emissions and how they will deliver on the UK's carbon budgets heralded in the Climate Change Act.

Executive director of FoE, Andy Atkins, said: "The battle against climate change must be at the core of all Government decision-making, especially on massive projects like new power stations and roads.

"The Committee on Climate Change has warned the Government that tougher polices are needed to meet UK carbon budgets. The draft National Policy Statements will test claims that the UK is taking a real lead in developing a low-carbon economy ahead of crucial climate negotiations in Copenhagen in a few weeks time."