
30.01.2025
After Rachel Reeves announced government support for a third runway at Heathrow in a bid to create 100,000 jobs, DHA Environment's Tim Spicer looks at what else the government is doing to deliver their 'Plan for Change' milestones, which include 150 decisions being issued on major infrastructure projects by the end of the Parliament.
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Following our article 'The sun really is shining on solar in the UK ', DHA are pleased to see the Government’s commitment to national infrastructure and economic growth is continuing and action is being taken.
As part of Rachel Reeves ‘kickstart to economic growth’, she has also said that Labour is "exploring options" to work with the private sector to "deliver the infrastructure that our country desperately needs" - including the Lower Thames Crossing. This will benefit businesses and residents across the southeast.
In the energy sector, Ed Miliband approved two large solar projects last week, Heckington Fen Solar and West Burton Solar, located in Lincolnshire. The schemes were granted development consent orders for the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs). Combined these will produce over 1GW of power.
In a further boost to solar energy schemes, the government has also increased the threshold under which schemes can be considered by local Councils from 50MW to 100MW. This removes the viability constraints for smaller schemes and the increased costs of securing consent through the NSIP regime. We understand this change will come into force later in the year.
Also in the energy sector, it was announced on Wednesday that the Government intends to "remove barriers to deliver 16GW of offshore wind by designating new Marine Protected Areas to enable the development of this technology in areas like East Anglia and Yorkshire, crowding in up to £30bn of investment in homegrown clean power."
It appears that the delivery of major infrastructure in England now has significant political backing. Time will tell whether the current momentum continues....
At DHA we are experienced in working on, and delivering, NSIP projects through the DCO regime and remain passionate about helping to deliver the infrastructure the country needs and the economic benefits that result.
For any enquiries, please contact DHA Environment's David Harvey or Tim Spicer.
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