Labour has pledged to overhaul the planning system in a bid to ease the progress of infrastructure projects.
In her speech to Labour's annual conference this afternoon, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said, if elected, her party would ‘speed up the planning process’.
Ms Reeves said the ‘once in a generation set of reforms’ to the ‘antiquated planning system’ would focus on enabling transport, energy, life sciences, 5G and battery factory projects.
Proposals include rewriting planning guidance for councils and the addition of 300 planners to tackle a critical shortage of officers.
Ms Reeves added: ‘We will invest in expanding local authorities’ planning capacity to sped up decisions.’
Residents living close to large infrastructure sites would receive incentives such as lower energy bills and the shadow chancellor said efforts would be made to ‘tackle litigation’ holding up the planning process.
However, the Campaign for the Protection Rural England (CPRE) warned against any moves to 'undermine local democracy'.
CPRE’s chief executive Roger Mortlock warned infrastructure projects would only succeed if they were 'delivered in the right place and local people have a meaningful say’.
This article was originally published by The MJ (£).
