The Government has today, published the new NPPF together with its response to the consultation on NPPF reform and other planning system changes, the aim being to deliver 1.5 million new homes underpinned by critical infrastructure to support economic growth.
There is a lot to unpack, but we have focussed on key issues/changes proposed relating to energy and national infrastructure, summarised below:
Solar and onshore wind – NSIP regime changes
The Government has confirmed that it will reintegrate onshore wind into the NSIP regime and raise the NSIP threshold above 50MW for solar development proposals.
Legislation will be brought forward in spring 2025 to reintroduce onshore wind into the NSIP regime at a threshold of 100MW and amend the existing solar threshold from 50MW to 100MW. It is considered 100MW for both types of projects is an appropriate level to reflect the technical advances in turbine and solar technology.
A transitional window will be put in place until the end of 2025 when the changes will come into effect, but the consultation response notes that the transitional window will not prevent requests for projects to be treated as a NSIP project under S35 of the Planning Act 2008.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out as it means solar and onshore wind projects below 100MW will fall to be determined by local planning authorities. The Government has published its Planning Reform Working Paper on Planning Committees which aims to “standardise” decision making at a local level, the aim being to speed up decision making at a local level and essentially remove the “nimbyism” being a blocker to development, which we have seen become more prevalent over the past few years.
Data centres, gigafactories and laboratories – emphasis on growth and locational needs
The NPPF has been updated to reflect that planning policies should identify suitable locations for data centres, gigafactories, laboratories and digital infrastructure – all of which are recognised as being important to meeting current day needs and contributing to a modern economy. The specific locational requirements of high tech, data driven industries should be recognised in planning policies in order to support growth, with data centres and grid connections being specifically highlighted.
The government has confirmed in its consultation response that it is proposing to push ahead with its proposals to prescribe data centres (together with gigafactories and/or laboratories) as part of the NSIP consenting regime, however no information has been provided yet on what size the data centre would need to be to fall within the NSIP regime or timings as to when this will likely be affected.
NPPF strengthened to support Net Zero objectives and focus on climate change
The NPPF has been updated to expressly state that the planning system should support the transition to Net Zero by 2050.
Amendments have been made to paragraph 168 of the NPPF which states that when determining applications for renewable and low carbon energy developments, local authorities should “give significant weight to the benefits associated with renewable and low carbon energy generation and the proposal’s contribution to net zero future“.
It goes on to identify that where applications are for the re-powering and life-extension of existing renewable sites, then again local authorities should “give significant weight to the benefits of utilising an established site“.
A new paragraph (paragraph 163) has been introduced to confirm that climate change is an important factor both in preparing and determining planning applications.
There is a recognition that the planning system needs to take account of climate change as part of the journey in transitioning to Net Zero, with a push on renewable and low carbon energy sources playing a central role to achieving that objective.
