ARTICLE · 31 DECEMBER 2012

Plainer Trains And Automobiles - Threshold Consultation Launched

Bircham Dyson Bell LLP

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Today's entry reports on a consultation on changing the railway and highway thresholds in the Planning Act.

United KingdomGovernment, Public Sector

Today's entry reports on a consultation on changing the railway and highway thresholds in the Planning Act.

Yesterday the government launched a consultation on changing the thresholds above which rail and highway projects are considered nationally significant. The consultation paper is here.

These are the third and fourth consultations on altering thresholds: the government has previously consulted on and introduced a threshold for waste water transfer and storage, and recently carried out a consultation on varying the electric line threshold.

Rail threshold

The rail threshold at the moment is hardly a threshold at all. If a rail project would involve construction outside the original railway boundary, then it cannot rely on 'permitted development' rights and so must be authorised under the Planning Act. The original railway boundary is set out in the plans associated with the usually 19th century Act of Parliament when the railway was first authorised -

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