The proposed Infrastructure Bill, announced as part of the Queen’s Speech in June 2014, has now reached the Grant Committee stage at the House of Lords. Concern has been raised across the heritage sector in regard to Clause 20 of the Bill, which it has been argued could have a detrimental effect on the historic environment.
The Heritage Alliance writes:
Published on 6th June 2014, the proposed Bill intends to provide a £2.6 billion boost to the economy over the next 10 years by improving the funding and management of major roads, streamlining the planning process, protecting infrastructure from invasive plants, supporting house building, and making it easier and cheaper to register land and property.
Concern has been raised over Clause 20 of the Bill, which could affect many fundamental safeguards in the system in relation to the historic environment. The clause seeks to address the issue of local authorities being slow to give their consent to detail design matters under planning conditions, and this could potentially affect the implementation of archaeological conditions.
To read more about the proposed Infrastructure Bill see UK Gov
Progress and details of the Bill can be seen on the UK Parliament website
