Proposals to reduce planning delays

Draft policy statements aimed at improving the UK’s energy mix have outlined ten potential sites for nuclear power stations and made recommendations to reduce planning delays for larger energy projects.

Energy and Climate secretary, Ed Miliband, today unveiled the draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) in Parliament whilst setting out a new framework for a quicker transition to a clean coal and a low carbon economy.

Miliband said: ‘Change is needed for energy security. In a world where our North Sea reserves are declining, a more diverse low carbon energy mix is a more secure energy mix, less vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of any one fuel.’

He added: ‘The current planning system is a barrier to this shift. It serves neither the interests of energy security, the interests of the low carbon transition, nor the interests of people living in areas where infrastructure may be built, for the planning process to take years to come to a decision.