Minister details fast-track process for business and commercial developments

Big business and science parks, research and development facilities, storage and distribution centres, minerals extraction, major industrial developments like oil refineries, big chemical works and major manufacturing plants can all be classed as major infrastructure developments, Boles has said, according to a report in Planning Magazine. This will allow such development to take advantage of the fast-track planning process for NSIPs, he said.

Boles said he did not believe there would need to be a national policy statement for each of these types of development but a clear set of criteria would be drawn up to guide such development.

The scheme will not be extended to housing developments, Boles said. However, where housing projects have more than purely local significance, the Secretary of State would look at using 'call in' powers more often, he said.

The fast-track scheme for NSIPs currently covers major proposals relating to energy, transport, water and waste.

Boles also spoke of the Government's plans to allow applications to be directed to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) where the local planning authority consistently takes too long to determine applications or its decisions are consistently overturned on appeal. Boles said that the decisions made by PINS in such cases would not be subject to appeal, apart from the option of taking the decision to court.