The Planning Act 2008 was designed to seriously improve (and speed up) the process for securing consent for major projects – by establishing something called a Nationally Significant Infrastructure project.

But when the planning application alone for the Lower Thames Crossing has cost some £300m so far without a spade in the ground, can we say that it has? And why did HS2 still go down the Hybrid Bill route, event though by that stage, the Planning Act was on the statute books.

To dig deep into these issues, Green Signals was able to speak with two of the countries most experienced former planning inspectors, now both working for consultant Infrastructure Matters.

Rynd Smith and Menaka Sahai are not just two former inspectors. Rynd holds the record for the most number of DCO Examinations chaired, including Lower Thames Crossing. Menaka has 25 years experience of planning matters and has examined multiple infrastructure projects worth billions.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(03:35) What is an NSIP – and who decides if your project is one?

(06:24) What is the process for getting your project though to a Development Consent Order

(10:38) How do ordinary citizens raise legitimate concerns and what happens if they become repetitive and inconsequential?

(13:17) Is there a danger of consulting too much these days?

(16:24) Why does the rail sector seem to have lagged behind on using this process compared to say highways or energy?

(19:51) Did we get it wrong in hindsight using a Hybrid Bill process for HS2?

(26:05) Lower Thames Crossing – how on earth did we get to 350,000 pages and £270 million – is that not evidence enough that the process is broken?

(37:35) Is the Chancellor right that we spend far too much time worrying about bats and newts, or does that sentiment risk damaging the environment?

• Just what is the right balance – and how do we get to that point?

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