The government has today announced changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the over-arching policies which outline the government’s priorities for the planning system in England.

Though largely focused on changes to support the government’s housing goals, the framework also includes new guidance relating to the planning system for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), in particular confirmation that onshore wind will return to being part of this process, a step which the Commission has previously recommended should happen to support the rapid decarbonisation of the country’s electricity generation. The NPPF also confirmed changes that will should make it easier for a wider range of solar power projects to benefit from the NSIPs process, through changing the threshold from 50 to 100 MW.

In response, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt said:

“The changes announced will support the rollout of the new energy infrastructure needed over coming decades. By enabling major onshore wind to benefit from the same planning approach as other critical infrastructure and revising the threshold for solar projects, as we recommended, the expansion of renewable energy at the pace required becomes that bit easier. 

“We have also recommended that the government regularly reviews whether other technologies should benefit from the nationally significant infrastructure planning regime, and the confirmation that data centres, gigafactories and laboratories can be directed into this process is helpful.

“Successfully implementing these measures, however, means giving planners the resources to do their jobs effectively. Allowing councils to recover their costs from major infrastructure projects is an encouraging step forward in this regard.”

Other broader infrastructure-related changes set out in the NPPF today include:

• a new requirements to adopt a vision-led approach to transport planning (rather than simply ‘predict and provide’)
• an explicit requirement for the planning system to support the transition to net zero 2050, and to give weight to the benefits of renewable and low carbon developments; and
• a requirement for plans to take account of the full range of potential climate impacts.

Background: The Commission’s April 2023 study on the infrastructure planning regime study recommended that onshore wind should be returned to the NSIPs process. The same study noted that the threshold for solar projects to be considered Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects was too low, meaning it was not cost beneficial for schemes below 200 MW to go through the system. This had led to a gap in the market for solar projects between 50 and 200 MW, which potentially constrained growth in the UK’s renewable capacity.