Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Deferred
Paragraph: 58
Address whether vital road freight facilities should be delivered as nationally significant infrastructure projects.
Recommendation
In its response to its call for evidence on freight, logistics and the planning system, the Department for Transport should address whether some types associated development which are vital to the road freight supply chain, such as driver rest facilities or service areas, would be more effectively delivered if considered part of major infrastructure Draft revised National Policy Statement for National Networks 27 and approved by Development Consent Order. In our 2022 inquiry on the road freight supply chain we heard that the process of building a new motorway service area can take a decade, and that the planning process is a key source of delay; the Government needs to cut through this quagmire to deliver the facilities that are desperately needed.
Government Response Summary
The government states it has committed to a future review of National Policy Statements (NPSs), particularly considering modular NPSs, which 'may shape the future of transport NPSs', thus deferring a specific response to the committee's question about associated freight infrastructure.
Paragraph Reference:
58
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
As set out above, the government has committed to undertaking a further review of NPSs and in particular whether there is a role for modular NPSs. This may shape the future of transport NPSs. The government’s immediate focus remains on completing to designation the current NPS reviews already underway. We are currently completing the review of the NNNPS and are already reviewing the ports NPS. In September 2021 the government committed to reconsider review of the Airports NPS after the Jet Zero Strategy was finalised and we have more certainty about the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on aviation demand The Department does not consider it appropriate to produce a single overarching NPS for transport under the current guidance The modes covered within the NPSs are different in nature, from the nature of the applicant (market led vs public sector funded) to the impacts that they generate. The airports NPS for example is site specific and therefore requires a different level of detail on assessment and impacts compared to non-spatially specific NPSs. A single NPS would also introduce legal risk, where less controversial parts of an over-arching NPS may be affected by a legal challenge concerning other parts of the over- arching NPS. E03101094 978-1--5286-4783-0