PLANNING BILL AND INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING COMMISSION

That this House welcomes the Government's aim of streamlining the planning process in respect of Major Infrastructure Projects (MIPs); expresses serious concern, however, that whereas planning applications determined under the Town and Country Planning Act will retain a strong local democratic component with major projects requiring a Ministerial decision, the Planning Bill would put decisions on MIPs entirely in the hands of the proposed Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC); believes the proposed powers of the IPC as presently contained in the Planning Bill, including the ability to amend legislation, are inordinate and unprecedented; and calls on the Government to restore the Ministerial role in deciding major planning project applications, if necessary drawing on the advice of the IPC or any body ultimately identified for discharging such an advisory duty.