The Independent Planning Commission (IPC) will now be able to fast-track infrastructure schemes of national importance such as airports and power stations.

The IPC will be politically independent and accountable to Parliament, and will be strongly guided by national policy statements (NPS), which are clear statements (agreed in Parliament) setting out what developments (such as roads, energy, waste) should go where.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation (BPF), said: “These proposals strike a reasonable balance between the need to allow adequate opportunity for debate and the need to expedite nationally important schemes. We hope that the desire for quicker and more transparent decision-making can be matched by a democratic system balancing the needs of local communities fairly against those of the wider economy.
“National policy statements will the most important factor upon which the new planning commission will base its decisions. It is vital that this new element of spatial planning works in harmony with the current planning system. There will need to be effective co-ordination between national and regional government, and differences of opinion must be resolved fairly and promptly.”