Draft Regulations on extended 'nationally significant infrastructure' regime published

Under the proposals, business and commercial projects that can be classified as NSIPs include offices, research and development, manufacturing, distribution, sport and tourism and mining projects.

The Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 extended the NSIP regime introduced under the Planning Act 2008 to include certain types of business and commercial schemes. NSIPs can benefit from a streamlined authorisation process under which proposals are decided by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) rather than the local authority.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said in a policy statement (3-page / 21KB PDF) that, although size "in itself will not be the determining factor" when deciding if a scheme is a NSIP, PINS would not "normally expect" requests relating to construction projects with a gross internal floorspace of less than 40,000 square metres, to leisure, tourism and sports facilities with a development area of less than 100 hectares or sports stadia with a seating capacity of less than 40,000 seats.

For minerals projects, it said that PINS would not normally expect to receive requests for projects unless they involve the extraction of a strategically important industrial mineral, or extraction of a mineral on a significant scale, for example where the surface or underground area was over 150 hectares.  

The regime has not been extended to include housing developments. "The Government’s view is that determining planning applications for housing is a primary responsibility of local planning authorities who should be responsible for ensuring an adequate supply of housing in their area," the DCLG said.

Retail-led developments also continue to be excluded from the regime, although the DCLG said that "some projects that fall within the prescribed types of project might include an element of retail".