Today's entry reports on the fifth anniversary of the Planning Act 2008.
On 26 November 2008, the Queen gave her royal assent to bring the Planning Act 2008 into force. Time for a little retrospective.
Here are the stats on National Policy Statements (NPSs) and applications made under the Act.
| Year | NPSs | Applications | Approvals | Withdrawals/refusals |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 2 | 14 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 5 |
So the Planning Act regime has learned to walk and talk and is now of school age. The school it is attending is called the 2014 Review, where there will be some lessons learned about the projects that have used the regime so far so that any future examinations can go more smoothly (how long can I keep this analogy going?).
I get the feeling that the 2014 Review has not managed to break free of the autumn statement and will now be launched on the same day, i.e. next Thursday 5 December.
The Act has had some cosmetic surgery in its first five years - too young, do you think? The most significant amendments were made by the Localism Act 2011 (abolishing the Infrastructure Planning Commission) and the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 (extending the regime to business and commercial projects). Hundreds of minor amendments have been made to the Act and the regulations made under it over the years. Guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government is in its second edition, and some of the advice notes issued by the Planning Inspectorate are on their fifth iteration (notes three, six and ten).
Nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), as their name suggests, are never far from the headlines. Although admittedly it won't use the Planning Act regime, the bill (Volume 1, Volume 2) for the first phase of High Speed 2 was laid before Parliament yesterday - see our HS2 blog for more. It does provide that building it won't be an offence under the Planning Act 2008 (clause 23). That would have been a good headline: 'building HS2 will be illegal'. Today, the main story in the Guardian is that the Atlantic Array offshore wind farm project has been dropped.
NSIPs have also been the subject of legal challenge. This Thursday, the Court of Appeal will consider the appeal from the High Court where the decision to approve the Heysham to M6 Link Road project was found to be sound. I suspect that will not change. Next week, the challenge to the approval of the Hinkley Point C will be heard in the High Court, but we must wait until February until the challenge to the poor Rookery South project is heard (poor in the sense of 'I feel sorry for it').
The other main feature of the regime is that it applies across different sectors, which means that there are many small issues that constantly arise on applications across a wide range of projects, which can learn from the good bits and avoid the bad ones.
A frequently changing legal landscape, important and controversial projects, and complex but widely applicable issues constantly being thrown up - what a fascinating mix!
Will we recognise the Planning Act regime in another five years? Yes, I think so. We may say 'my, how you've grown', but it will be recognisably the same.
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