As the Government’s Planning Bill receives Royal Assent today (Wednesday), countryside campaigners CPRE [1] express doubts about how well the main reforms it contains will work in practice.

Paul Miner, CPRE’s Senior Planning Campaigner commented:

‘We have monitored the Bill closely throughout its passage through Parliament. Some of it is sensible. But we doubt that its centrepiece – an expensive, unelected, unaccountable commission taking big planning decisions – will work in practice.’ [2].

The main purpose of the Bill is to help promote and gain permission for a range of major infrastructure projects such as airport expansion and large power stations. Many of these projects sit uncomfortably with the aims of the Government’s own Climate Change Bill, which will also receive Royal Assent today, and will include a target of an 80% reduction in the UK’s carbon emissions by 2050.

CPRE believes that there needs to be a proper public debate about the need for major infrastructure projects and a fully transparent procedure for deciding whether particular proposals should go ahead. For the reforms to be effective in practice, we believe they must meet three key tests:

• there should be full and meaningful public debate over new National Policy Statements for major infrastructure before they are finalised; 

• promoters of major infrastructure projects should be held to account through cross-examination, including by third parties, at public inquiries;

• the new commissioners need to be truly independent of Government and of sufficient calibre, impartiality and wisdom to command the public’s confidence.

Paul Miner concluded:

‘There is a grave danger that this new commission will be seen merely as a promoter and a rubber stamp for highly damaging infrastructure projects imposed without proper debate. It will be interesting to see who steps forward to be a commissioner on this new body, given the challenges it faces.’ [3]

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

2. CPRE has campaigned on the issue of democracy and public rights in the Planning Bill as part of the Better Planning coalition of organisations, which includes Friends of the Earth, the National Trust, RSPB and others. For more information about the coalition go to www.planningdisaster.co.uk. The coalition’s concerns are held across the political spectrum. The proposal to give decision-making powers on major infrastructure projects to a new Infrastructure Planning Commission were voted on in both the House of Commons and House of Lords, with both main Opposition parties opposing these powers.

3. Recruitment for the chair of the new IPC is currently in train. The Conservatives have stated they would abolish the IPC in the event that they came into power. The Shadow Planning Minister, Jacqui Lait MP, stated in the House of Commons on 24 November: ‘I want to put it on record again that, should the IPC be set up, we would look to end its existence as fast as possible because we believe that the British people expect democratically accountable Ministers, who are elected by them, not an unaccountable quango, to be responsible for such decisions.’