Uncertainty about the future of the National Infrastructure Commission has come to light following the publishing of the new Neighbourhood Planning Bill today (9 September).
The new bill aims to streamline and speed up the neighbourhood planning process, support more house building and provide more local say over development.
The Queen’s Speech to Parliament in May had originally stated that ministers would introduce a Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill. The government at that time intended that the bill would establish the National Infrastructure Commission on a statutory basis.
However, the bill has now been published and there is no mention of infrastructure, the commission or the privatisation of the Land Registry, which had also been mooted.
Under the bill, measures will be taken to ensure that local planning authorities can only impose pre-commencement planning conditions “where strictly necessary, but in a way that ensures important heritage and environmental safeguards remain in place”, the government said.
A second proposal for planning conditions grants the secretary of state power to make regulations that explain the type of conditions that may or may not be imposed on a planning permission.
With the neighbourhood planning process, the bill will simplify how plans can be revised as local circumstances change, and ensure that plans come into force more quickly once approved by local people.
Housing and planning minister Gavin Barwell said: “The prime minister has been absolutely clear that we need to build more homes and this bill is the first of a number of measures to deliver on that.
“We have already built more than 900,000 homes since 2010 and now this bill will help speed up delivery of the further new homes our country needs and ensure our foot is still firmly on the pedal.
“We’re also going further than ever before to speed up neighbourhood planning, which puts power in the hands of local people to decide where development gets built.”
The future of the infrastructure elements, originally proposed are expected to be reviewed by the newly established Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with a final decision made later this year.
