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Abstract
The UK government passed the 2008 Planning Act in order to reform the process for decisions on major infrastructure projects. Previously, this had been dealt with under the main town and country planning system, with the use of public inquiries, alongside sectoral consenting procedures. Here, the reasons for this legislation are explored, including revisions made by the Localism Act 2011, embedding this within an understanding of the broadly business friendly drives of all UK governments in recent years. Detailed assessment is made of the two main instruments used in England: national policy statements (NPSs) and the Infrastructure Planning Commission/National Infrastructure Directorate. This suggests that detailed implementation has generated certain contradictory or unexpected effects. A comparison is made with a very different approach in Scotland. An assessment is made of the significance of the law, given the political economic realities in which the new system's early life will be evolving.
Notes
The 2008 Planning Act applies completely to England but less to the three devolved territories, with Scotland largely free of its provisions except on aviation and some energy issues, but Wales significantly more affected. Northern Ireland is not affected at all. I refer constantly here to the UK, as this is the state which made the changes, but do not deal with Northern Ireland or Wales substantively at all.
This work arises from a project funded by an ESRC fellowship on Infrastructure and Spatial Planning (grant number RES-063-27-0157). This has allowed me to examine practice in relation to planning big infrastructure in other EU states, as well as studying changes in England. Further details and far more detailed referencing, in the shape of working papers on Dutch, French, German, Scottish, and Spanish experience, as well as on England, can be found at the following webpages http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/be/about/planning/projects/tmarshall.html