Clause 15
Planning Bill
12:30 pm
Jim Fitzpatrick (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Poplar and Canning Town, Labour)
I will study Hansard to examine some of the nuances that the hon. Lady is getting at because a more considered response than I might be able to give is required. However, I shall give that which I have in respect of power lines going across borders.
Clause 15 sets out when the installation of an electric line above ground will be a nationally significant infrastructure project. That will include projects in England and Wales, projects that are partly in England and partly in Wales, and projects that are partly in England and partly in Scotland. To respect the devolution settlement, where projects are partly in England and partly in Scotland, the commission will only be responsible for approving the part of the line that is in England. All projects will be within the IPC’s remit except for the following two types of project: installing a line that is intended to be used for a single consumer and that does not exceed a nominal voltage of 20 kV; and installing a line within premises in the occupation or control of the person responsible for its installation.
These thresholds are consistent with existing thresholds under the Electricity Act 1989 and include all the projects currently consented by the Secretary of State which are deemed to be nationally significant. Overhead lines may cut across a number of local authority boundaries and have significant national as well as local benefits. As such, the Government believe that they merit treatment as nationally significant. In addition, each link of the electricity transmission and distribution network is critical to the effectiveness and resilience of the network as a whole. The network is of strategic national significance and it is important that the overall integrity of the network is maintained through consistent national-level decision making.
The development control system must also be able to take into account the anticipated greater role of renewable energy, with the changes to the network structures that implies, and the likelihood of a more localised pattern of generation and distribution in future. Responses to the planning White Paper consultation showed a large majority of those responding on this issue in favour of including electric lines in the commission’s remit. The clause makes an electric line a nationally significant infrastructure project only in relation to the English part of the line.
If the hon. Lady will allow me, I will study her remarks and come back to her in due course with a more comprehensive response once I have determined exactly where she wants to get a response from.