Major infrastructure projects like nuclear power stations, railway lines and wind farms will be built faster under new planning rules, the government has pledged. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Nimby (Not in My Back Yard) “blockers” of major infrastructure projects will have fewer chances “to frustrate growth” through repeated legal challenges.Currently, infrastructure schemes can be challenged in the courts up to three times – ministers intend to reduce that to once in most cases. Tory shadow levelling up secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour of “taking forward Conservative initiatives” but warned their efforts would fail unless they stopped “blocking our attempts to cut EU legacy red tape”.Existing rules open up projects approved by elected officials to years of delays and hundreds of millions of pounds of additional costs, the government said.Opponents of schemes currently have three opportunities to secure permission for a judicial review of a major infrastructure project in England and Wales: writing to the High Court, attending an oral hearing and appealing to the Court of Appeal. Under the government’s proposals, the written stage would be scrapped – meaning campaigners will have to convince a judge in person.Additionally, any challenges deemed “totally without merit” by a High Court judge would be unable to go over their heads to the Court of Appeal.Scotland has its own legal and Judicial Review system.Ministers said overhauling the rules, via the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, would send a strong signal to glob …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnMajor infrastructure projects like nuclear power stations, railway lines and wind farms will be built faster under new planning rules, the government has pledged. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Nimby (Not in My Back Yard) “blockers” of major infrastructure projects will have fewer chances “to frustrate growth” through repeated legal challenges.Currently, infrastructure schemes can be challenged in the courts up to three times – ministers intend to reduce that to once in most cases. Tory shadow levelling up secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour of “taking forward Conservative initiatives” but warned their efforts would fail unless they stopped “blocking our attempts to cut EU legacy red tape”.Existing rules open up projects approved by elected officials to years of delays and hundreds of millions of pounds of additional costs, the government said.Opponents of schemes currently have three opportunities to secure permission for a judicial review of a major infrastructure project in England and Wales: writing to the High Court, attending an oral hearing and appealing to the Court of Appeal. Under the government’s proposals, the written stage would be scrapped – meaning campaigners will have to convince a judge in person.Additionally, any challenges deemed “totally without merit” by a High Court judge would be unable to go over their heads to the Court of Appeal.Scotland has its own legal and Judicial Review system.Ministers said overhauling the rules, via the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, would send a strong signal to glob …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
