First business or commercial project to use Planning Act regime

Today's entry reports on the issuing of the first direction that a non-infrastructure project can use the Planning Act 2008 regime.

Background

The Planning Act 2008 was originally introduced to speed up the authorisation of nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs). Last year the government decided to allow certain non-infrastructure projects to be able to use the regime too, and enacted this via the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 and the Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) Regulations 2013. 

Note that the regime is compulsory for NSIPs, but optional for business and commercial projects. We do need a snappier name for these projects, and so far I've come up with NSOPs - nationally significant other projects - but I'm open to other suggestions.

The regulations set out ten types of business or commercial project that can use the regime - nine listed in a schedule plus the 'winning and working of minerals'. The government also published a policy statement on the sorts of project that might meet the test of national significance. Note that this is not to be confused with a National Policy Statement (NPS) - the government has decided not to issue one of those for these projects that would have expressed the need for them.

There have been rumours of possible applications for such projects but it was not until last Friday 9 May that a letter was issued on behalf of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, bringing the first business or commercial project within the regime.

The project

The project is currently known as 'London Paramount' and is to be a mixed-use development including a theme park on the north Kent coast 1km from Ebbsfleet station. I have long said that the Planning Act 2008 regime can be a rollercoaster ride, and now it really will be. The 'Paramount' comes from Paramount Pictures, who have licensed the use of the word for the site.

It falls within the 'tourism' and 'leisure' types of project on the list and the Secretary of State decided it was nationally significant. From a meeting note, "the scheme is on the scale of Disney but is not modelled on the Disney approach", so perhaps it was considered nationally significant on the basis that it won't be a Mickey Mouse project?

Perhaps, but this project was clearly above the notional threshold of 100 hectares (it is 200 hectares) and in terms of its effects on the economy (it could create up to 27,000 jobs). Inevitably, the site straddles the boundary of two local authorities - Gravesham and Dartford.

What happens next

The project must now undergo statutory pre-application just like an NSIP. An application is currently expected in a year's time, according to the Planning Inspectorate website.

I hope that using the Planning Act regime will be more 'Transformers' than 'Mission: Impossible', two Paramount productions.

This is the first project to come forward and the hit rate is thus rather short of the 10-20 per year originally envisaged by the government. Let us hope that the Planning Act regime demonstrates its benefits so that others will follow.