Regen welcomes the revisions to the National Policy Statements, particularly their alignment with Clean Power 2030 and future strategic-level plans including the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan. We support measures to ensure the planning system for renewable energy and storage projects is as quick, effective and clear as possible, while keeping local communities at the heart of the energy transition. Our consultation response has been shaped by engagement with developers and planning industry professionals, including members of our planning working group.
Key takeaways
- To deliver CP30 and CNP projects, long-term investment in the planning system is urgently needed. Without greater capacity and resources, the planning system will likely be unable to deal with the increased volumes and complexity of clean energy applications, risking avoidable delays which could jeopardise 2030 targets.
- The CNP and CP30 policies should be reflected in planning policy and guidance across local as well as national planning regimes. Strategically significant low-carbon infrastructure should receive the same supportive policy treatment regardless of project size, and this should be achieved through changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
- The National Policy Statements should be formally updated following the publication of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan and CSNP to include guidance on how these strategic plans should be weighed in decision making. The NPS should also be reviewed to reflect subsequent updates to these plans, to provide clarity and policy weight for developers and decision makers.
- The NPS should provide guidance on increasingly common hybrid and co-located projects, including whether NSIP thresholds apply conjunctively or disjunctively to multiple assets.
