The government's controversial proposals for a new planning regime for key infrastructure projects like power stations, airports and large new water treatment plants have moved a step closer.
Peers voted against moves to make the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) an advisory body with final decisions left to government ministers during the Planning Bill's report stage in the House of Lords last night (6 November).
The legislation replaces the eight current consent regimes for major infrastructure with a single consent regime.
Under these new arrangements the government will prepare national policy statements which will set out the government's overall objectives for infrastructure development.
These policy statements will be discussed in parliament and subjected to scrutiny by committees in both the Commons and the Lords.
Under the new regime developers will have to consult about their projects before submitting them to the IPC where individual schemes will be considered by a panel of commissioners, with less complex cases dealt with by a single commissioner.
There will be a statutory six month time limit for IPC inquiries with a further three months for a decision.
Decisions will be made by the commission, taking into account the national policy statement, the local impacts report from relevant local authorities and any other matters which the commission considers important and relevant.
Baroness Andrews told the Lords: "The current situation where the Secretary of State may in some instances set the policy, promote a scheme and then decide whether it should go ahead, effectively acting as judge, jury and defence counsel, will no longer apply. Under the regime in the Planning Bill, the process will be much clearer".
She insisted: "The boundary between policy and planning will be clear and explicit".
Before peers started the report stage of the Bill ministers published new amendments designed to strengthen the scrutiny of national policy statements by the House of Lords, and tackle climate change.
The changes provide a key new role for peers in scrutinizing all national policy statements including those for aviation, nuclear power and renewable energy, and there is now a legal duty on the face of the Bill for national policy statements to show how they will mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The government has also confirmed that the proposed Infrastructure Planning Commission will be able to allow cross-examination of witnesses where appropriate.
The Bill will be considered further in the Lords before completing its parliamentary passage.

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