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Ministers are set to shake up how clean power projects in Britain are connected to the National Grid as part of what they have billed as the biggest package of planning reforms in a generation.
The government said on Monday that it would allow renewable energy projects to “jump to the front of the queue” for grid connections, sidestepping current waits of up to 10 years to be linked to the system.
Ministers said the “first come, first served” process for joining the electricity grid would be replaced by a more efficient “first ready, first connected” system, under which preferred projects will be fast-tracked if they are closer to completion.
The measure is part of a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill designed to accelerate planning decisions in order to boost housebuilding and get major projects built such as roads, wind farms and railway lines.
The legislation, which will be formally presented to parliament on Tuesday, will also seek to suppress local protests against new renewable energy schemes by formalising compensation for people living near new pylons and other electricity infrastructure such as substations.
The UK has an ambitious goal of decarbonising power supplies by 2030, and the transition to a low-carbon electricity grid will require hundreds of miles of new pylons across the country, which have already prompted vocal hostility in some areas.
Households within 500 metres of new pylons will receive about £20 off monthly electricity bills, equating to up to £2,500 over a decade. Discounts are expected to be in place from next year.
There will also be fresh guidance on how developers must fund projects such as new sports clubs or educational programmes to compensate for their infrastructure.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said the government “owes it to the people of this country to get Britain building again. It is no longer a question of whether we build the new infrastructure we need but a question of how”.
The legislation would “slash energy bills for local people living near new projects, so they benefit as we drive forward in our mission to achieve a more prosperous and energy secure future for the next generation”, she added.
Other measures in the bill include a “national scheme of delegation” setting out which applications should be decided by unelected planning officers and which by committees of elected councillors. There will also be mandatory training for planning committee members.
The legislation will set up a Nature Restoration Fund under which environmental contributions from developers will be pooled into a single fund rather than agreed on an ad hoc basis under the current system.
Development corporations, which are bodies with powers to buy and develop land and infrastructure, will be strengthened to make it easier for them to deliver large-scale development.
The bill is also designed to overhaul the regime covering “National Significant Infrastructure Projects” to streamline consultation requirements for big initiatives.
Current NSIPs include the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C and the Lower Thames Crossing, on which more than £1.2bn has been spent despite construction not starting.
The government will also consult on removing Sports England, the Garden History Society and the Theatres Trust from the list of “statutory consultees” that are legally obliged to provide advice on planning decisions.
The process of installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure will be streamlined under the bill, which will also allow forestry authorities in England and Wales to bring forward proposals to generate renewable electricity.
But ministers face a big challenge to hit their target of building 1.5mn new homes over the course of the parliament, which will require a 50 per cent uplift from the current number of planning applications.
Mark Reynolds, executive chair of Mace Group and co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, said the “proposals show this government is listening to industry and taking reform seriously.”
But Robbie Owen, infrastructure planning partner at law firm Pinsent Masons, said he doubted the bill would materially cut the amount of time taken to receive consent for critical infrastructure projects, largely because the pre-application period “would not be significantly simplified”.
Even if the bill succeeded in its ambition of cutting decision times for major applications to two years this would still be about six months longer than was being consistently achieved in the 2010s when the system first started operating, he said.
Sue Ferns, senior deputy general secretary of Prospect union, said it would be a “mistake to see environmental and other regulators as ‘blockers’”, pointing to the need for “better resourcing of government agencies that have been hammered by deep and damaging cuts for over a decade.”
Richard Clewer, a councillor and housing and planning spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said: “It is imperative that county and unitary councils have the funding to assemble strategic planning teams and deliver evidence bases to make these new plans as effective as they could be.”
