Commenting on the Localism Bill, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Director General, Tom Foulkes, said:
“Attracting large volumes of private investment into our infrastructure – in the realm of £40-50bn per annum - demands a planning system that gives potential investors certainty. The commitment to preserving a regime which fast-tracks nationally significant projects and elects ministers to take final decisions will deliver accountability for decision making, greater public acceptance of those decisions and will therefore help drive this much needed confidence for investors.
“But it is imperative that the reforms do not hinder progress already made on nationally significant energy, transport and waste projects. With a looming energy generation shortfall and pressing environmental targets we simply don’t have time to go back to square one.
“While the Bill also provides more clarity around neighbourhood-level planning, there is still concern over how projects that span a wider area will be dealt with. There must be a robust mechanism in place to ensure these ‘larger than local’ strategic projects which carry economic and environmental benefits are not derailed. The “Duty to Cooperate” contains some welcome sentiments but this mechanism may need to be stronger when faced with the pressure to serve the very local agenda that this Bill promotes.
“Likewise, the scope for the previously announced Local Economic Partnerships to lead on strategic planning is limited, in that they have no statutory functions, core funding or staff and their spatial coverage is limited due to many places not having one.”
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) was founded in 1818 to ensure professionalism in civil engineering. It represents 80,000 qualified and student civil engineers in the UK and across the globe. The ICE has long worked with the government of the day to help it to achieve its objectives, and has worked with industry to ensure that construction and civil engineering remain major contributors to the UK economy and UK exports.