National network planning policies must align with net-zero, say UK MPs

The government has been urged to revise parts of the draft revised National Networks National Policy Statement (NNNPS) that would determine whether large new projects are compatible with net zero laws, based on the emissions that they would exude during their lifetime.

This recommendation was made by the Transport Committee.

In March, an updated NNNPS intended to reflect measures in the Environment Act 2021 was published for consultation. Shortly afterwards, the cross-party Transport Committee launched an inquiry. 

The current NNNPS was published in 2015 and it is used when decisions are made on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP).

The committee notes that the government wants to revise the NNNPS to avoid legal challenges delaying projects by clarifying how planning policies and climate legislation interact, but warns that this draft NNNPS cannot do that.

Both the National Infrastructure Planning Association and Transport Action Network told the committee that the NNNPS should be reviewed every five years, which is in line with a commitment the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) reiterated last week (18 October) and first made in April 2023.

The committee's report states that the review was “overdue”.

“It was launched to bring the policy framework for major infrastructure schemes up to date, and as a response to legal challenges to schemes prompted by the introduction of significant net zero legislation. The government should have been proactive and reviewed the NNNPS upon the introduction of net-zero targets, and should do so when any changes are made to the net-zero target policies," it explains.

Therefore, the committee recommends, as did the NIC, reviewing the NNNPS every five years, with a shorter term where changes in policy decisions or policy drivers warrant it.

The report also highlights that the draft NNNPS does not take note of a Climate Change Committee’s recommendation in its June progress report to Parliament that new road projects should only be permitted if they “meaningfully support cost-effective delivery of net zero and climate adaptation” and that a review should be carried out on the roadbuilding programme.

It urges the government to respond to this recommendation by reviewing the roads programme and explaining why this recommendation will or will not be taken forward.

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Although the Climate Change Committee’s recommendations do not relate directly to the NNNPS, the committee argues that "acceptance of them would change the policy environment in which the NNNPS operates and, presumably, prompt further review. Obtaining clarity on this issue is important for establishing whether challenges to NSIPs on climate grounds are likely to continue”.

Transport committee chair Iain Stewart MP said: “Flaws in the current NNNPS are partly to blame for the perennial problem of why major infrastructure projects become delayed by legal challenges, so there is a lot riding on this work to produce a new set of planning policies.

“But a number of witnesses, including some who themselves launched legal challenges against such projects, told us the current draft won’t provide the legal certainty that DfT needs. One of the government’s objectives in revising the NNNPS is to balance the net zero goals with infrastructure projects that could increase greenhouse gas emissions. Given the concerns we heard, we urge the government to amend the draft NNNPS to provide a definition of ‘residual’ emissions and to state explicitly its understanding of the legal precedent for permitting major infrastructure schemes which result in increases in emissions.

“The draft NNNPS should also promote more scrutiny of the way the government examines the options for building new road or rail schemes, and shows the evidence behind its forecasts that more congestion is inevitable if we don’t build more motorways and A-roads.”

Other recommendations in the report include:

• The Department for Transport must do more to provide transparency on its approach to assessment and decision making. This includes publishing the National Transport Model so that it can be independently tested and verified; publish its own estimated congestion forecasts for the Strategic Road Network; and publish its own estimated congestion forecasts for the Strategic Road Network.
• The government should consider restructuring the National Policy Statements (NPS) for transport into one over-arching Transport NPS, which covers national networks, airports and ports. This would be used for determining new infrastructure for road, rail, strategic rail freight interchanges, ports, and airports. Ministers should then provide a clear rationale if they decide not to.
• The draft NNNPS does not include clause 5.29 of the current NNNPS, which requires the secretary of state to have regard for whether enough will be done to mitigate a new development’s harms to sites of biodiversity or geological interest. The committee argues that the draft NNNPS should be amended to include Clause 5.29. If the government declines, it must explain why.
• The draft revised NNNPS should be amended to provide a definition of, and clear and comprehensive guidance on, “residual” greenhouse gas emissions. This definition must make it possible to distinguish clearly between “residual” and unacceptable increases in emissions from an NSIP.

The report can be found on the UK Parliament website.