Applications to PINS may not be quickest route, says Boles

There is no certainty that the Growth and Infrastructure Bill's proposals to allow applications for major business and commercial developments to be directed to PINS will provide decisions faster than if they were made to the local planning authority, Boles said during a committee debate in Parliament. 

Responding to questions from shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, Roberta Blackman-Woods, on the Bill's proposals, Boles said "The hon. Lady asks whether we can be certain that this route will be faster than the alternative, and the answer is no, but the point is that a local authority will often be the fastest route."

Boles said that the Government did not intend to "force anyone" to apply to PINS, but that the route would be "more predictable because it will be timetabled".

"Individual applicants and promoters of infrastructure schemes will be able to make a choice between taking an application through the existing local route or this new national route," he said.

Boles also said the Government expects that only a few developers will choose to apply to PINS. "We are talking only a few handfuls, not hundreds and hundreds," he said.

The Government first announced its plans to allow applications for major business and commercial developments to be directed to PINS in September. The proposals are set out in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill which is currently going through Parliament.