Carol Barbone, What is SSE's view of the Government's plans as outlined in last weeks queens speech in relation to the streamlining of all major planning matters, e.g. airports, power stations, and large housing developments.
The queens speech is available on the Number 10 website at: http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page13707.asp
Asked by paul576 on Nov 11 2007 5:21:59 PM and supported by 19 members
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SSE is not persuaded that there is anything dreadfully wrong with the current UK planning system. If our planning system was so much worse that our EU competitors, why has the UK economy out-performed all of them for the past 15 years? The 7 years it took for Heathrow T5 to get planning approval is often quoted as evidence that our planning system is too slow. This was a very lengthy public inquiry (by comparison the recent Stansted public inquiry took 5 months). It is also worth noting that it took more than 10 years for Frankfurt Airport to get permission for its new runway.
Would better decisions be made if speed was the main priority rather than thorough examination of the issues? Under the current system the developer has to prove his case and can be questioned in detail on behalf of local residents and their elected representatives. We believe that it would damage the democratic process if all this were to be centralised and decisions made by an unelected quango. There is also a risk that if people felt they were powerless to object under a new centralised fast-track planning system, they would look for 'less civilised' ways to express their opposition. The Government should tread carefully before changing a planning system which has been tried and tested and which has generally worked very well for many years.