Planning reforms ‘urgent and essential’

Published 31st Oct 2007

Britain's out-of-date planning system must be overhauled to deliver the infrastructure the country needs to meet the diverse challenges of the 21st century, and full policy consultation is critical to achieving this, the CBI said today (Tuesday)...

The current process - where complex projects can require a host of individual different planning consents to be won and bolted together for a decision – is no longer fit for purpose.

Without reform, there is a real risk that the projects which will provide the UK with reliable future energy, water and waste services will not get built.

Effective consultation with stakeholders will be vital, the CBI said, otherwise the risk will remain that projects will continue to be challenged and get bogged down in the planning system.

John Cridland, Deputy Director-General of the UK's largest business organisation delivered this message at CBI's Major Infrastructure Projects Conference in London, attended also by John Healey, the Minister for Local Government, and chaired by Jim Claydon, President of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Economy at a crossroads
Mr Cridland said: "The UK economy is at a crossroads in our increasingly globalised world where failure to take necessary investment decisions - and more importantly failure to fully implement them - is likely to cause lasting damage to the UK economy and our environment.

"It is hard to over-estimate the harm that the bolt-on system is having by discouraging - or even preventing - businesses from undertaking the capital intensive projects that the UK economy and environment needs. "

Mr Cridland stressed the importance of introducing a unified consent regime, through an independent Infrastructure Planning Commission, to improve the certainty and transparency of the planning system for both applicant and objector alike.

"Without reform the UK will move forward with one hand effectively tied behind its back when tackling the economic and environmental challenges and politicians of all persuasions need to appreciate this when they come to study the planning bill.

"The planning system is a chafing collar around the neck of the UK economy, and it must not be allowed to become a noose."

Source: ' Move Channel Ltd '

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