England’s government has announced how it plans to implement the principle of a one-stop-shop for non-planning consents for major infrastructure.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consulted on the issues last year and now the department has confirmed it will establish a new Consents Service Unit in the Planning Inspectorate.
The unit, which will be established next month (April), will cover 12 non-planning consents (from bodies like the Environment Agency, English Nature and the Highways Agency) with a strong focus on the pre-application phase.
The Government will also streamline the list on non-planning consents which sit outside the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) development consent process by removing 19 different consents. This will be achieved by secondary legislation.
In addition Whitehall has agreed to update and streamline the list of prescribed consultees – also by secondary legislation. The list will be cut by at least a third.
These changes are in addition to five separate certificates and consents which are being removed from the Planning Act 2008 via clauses in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill.
The new unit’s key role will be to ‘facilitate effective and efficient decision making’, said DCLG.
‘It will not act as an advocate for any particular project or body, and the independence and impartiality of the different decision makers will be maintained.’
The Planning Inspectorate will publish a prospectus explaining how the unit will operate.
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