Today's entry reports on the outcome of the
consultation to review the highway and railway thresholds in the
Planning Act 2008.
From 18 December 2012 to 22 January 2013 (rather a short,
Christmas and New Year-filled period) the government consulted on
raising the thresholds for highway and railway projects to be
considered nationally significant infrastructure projects and thus
required to use the Planning Act regime for
authorisation. The consultation document can be found here.
Yesterday the government laid the statuory instrument that will
bring about the changes. As it must undergo the
'affirmative' procedure, i.e. be positively
endorsed by both Houses of Parliament, it is not expected to come
into force until late July, a month later than envisaged in the
consultation document. A month late is good going for the
DfT - the 'national networks' National Policy
Statement is 42 months late and counting ...
