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The Prosser Perspective.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

29 November 2007

No matter what you think about economic development, road building and regeneration projects, most people accept that Britain’s planning system for major infrastructure is over-complicated, bureaucratic, and cumbersome.

The system we’ve lived with for so long does have certain attractions but it also forces unnecessary delays to major decisions, such as new ports, renewable energy projects and important road improvements - like the dualling of the A2 for example.

The slowness of our old planning system threatens to hold our economy back and hamper our action on climate change and in a fast-changing world, Labour believes it is time to streamline the planning system to meet modern Britain’s strategic needs.

The planning reforms we’ve made since coming to power in 1997 have already delivered real improvements – more houses, better use of brownfield sites, quicker decisions and a more efficient customer focused service, but there’s still too much red tape and it’s still too slow.

For instance, planning permission for the Fullabrook wind farm took over 3 years; the North-Yorkshire grid upgrade took 8 years to secure and the planning application for the Caythorpe gas storage project which was submitted in 2005 is still being considered.

Perhaps I should declare an interest at this point because over the many years I’ve lived in Dover I’ve organised any number of campaigns which – to be frank – have exploited the cumbersome nature of our planning regulations as a means of opposing or modifying inappropriate developments. The most notable was the fight that the Port of Dover, the Trade Unions and the Ferry Industry waged against the Channel Tunnel in the eighties – I was privileged to be the campaign co-ordinator and there’s no denying that the complexities of the planning procedures provided my objectors with great facility to modify and delay the Channel Tunnel Bill.

Under the new system the Government will establish national priorities for major infrastructure projects and through a national framework, a balance will be struck between economic development and concern for the environment.

Developers will be required to consult local communities and other key stakeholders as they prepare projects and before they submit a planning application, and to conduct an environmental assessment.

Decisions on major applications will be made by an independent Infrastructure Planning Commission, within the policy set, following widespread consultation, by Government, and using streamlined inquiry procedures. Inquiries and decisions would be subject to statutory timetables.

The Bill will also introduce a new ‘community infrastructure levy’ to raise the money needed for local transport and community facilities; and a range of provisions to make planning for housing and commercial development more efficient and more focused on climate change.

The streamlined system will continue to provide adequate public participation and for the first time promoters will have a legal duty to consult on potential applications allowing the community greater opportunity to influence the outcome. The inquiry stage will make it easier and quicker for members of the public to engage with and anyone who registers an interest will have a right to be heard.