Councils will be able to recover the full cost of major planning applications, if they meet deadlines, the chancellor’s autumn statement revealed today.
The government said it would introduce a new premium planning services across England. This would offer guaranteed accelerated decision dates for major applications. If the dates were not met, fees would be refunded to developers.
The onshore oil and gas industry has long been critical of the time it takes for proposals to go through the planning system.
But frequently decisions have been delayed by appeals against refusal or the need for more information.
Documents published alongside the autumn statement said councils could offer guaranteed decision dates in exchange for a fee. The proposals would also limit the use of extension of time agreements, the documents said.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, also said the government was publishing an action plan which it he said would halve the time to build new energy grid infrastructure to seven years.
As part of the plan, people living near new energy infrastructure, such as pylons or substations, could get £1,000 a year of their energy bills, he said.
DRILL OR DROP? 
So if you live near an oil and gas facility shouldn’t you get a payment too?
In many cases you do, PaulaC-via a community fund. More was on offer before the moratorium on fracking in UK. “Strangely” in that instance it was referred to as a bribe to allow industrialization of the countryside! The only strange bit in reality is that the issue was ever considered to be a one sided equation. Interesting though you had no issues with costing local communities, Wressle, £400k in costs for a very flawed challenge.
I have been told estate agents are already discounting house prices along the track of new pylons, so in the words of some antis from the past, what is on offer is “peanuts”. Noting the frequent views of dead swans trapped in such structures, I suspect more “peanuts” will be required to try and maintain swan populations. The same households will also be paying their bit for the expansion of the Grid, forecast to cost another £50B.
I wonder what scale of payment will be required to encourage locals to host the underground nuclear waste facilities that will be required to service the expanded nuclear sector now it has dawned that the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. (Shock/horror there are a lot of expensive horses-£4.5T worth according to Civitas- required to pull the cart.) Until that one becomes a reality the tired old “someone else will pay” twaddle will be the offer for the £50B cost and the “bribe” to add to it, but it will turn out to be those who use energy in the UK. Then, of course, the problems they have reported in USA with fires caused by electricity distribution will be a concern??!! Silly me, another one sided equation that only applies to oil and gas extraction.
Wasn’t it a previous Chief Scientific Officer who cautioned against attempts to try and distort the laws of physics and arithmetic in respect of renewables? Hmm-see the new energy price cap has risen again.
1.14am PaulaC. I am afraid having to use fossil fuel at 1.14am may be part of the problem.