Planning versus the people?
Dictatorship or democracy? Which is best? The textbook answer is democracy, of course, but on planning matters, letting the people decide has proved disastrous, delaying infrastructure projects and damaging Britain’s progress. Yet if we opt for dictatorship, who should be the dictator?
That is the crux of the government’s proposals for reforming the planning process. The UK’s existing regime is so democratic it allows decisions to be prolonged for so long they are often pointless. Projects are outdated or inadequate when eventually built; they are never started because they are no longer viable – or governments veto schemes for fear of making unpopular decisions.
The democratic process has been hijacked by groups uninterested in debate and who would not accept approval of a project at any price – not just Nimbies who want schemes built in other people’s backyards but those who want them built nowhere. The result is that roads remain unbuilt, airports are too small or energy sources ignored. Business that pays the cost with employees and customers suffering.
The controversial solution is to create an infrastructure planning commission to make the decisions. It would have to operate quickly to reduce the delay between projects being proposed and approved – or rejected so that the process has to start again elsewhere. It would have to have a perception of fairness when deciding whose backyard in which to place unpopular projects.
The controversy is whether an unelected commissioner should be given such powers or whether government ministers should retain a final say. We have already seen interest decisions outsourced to the Bank of England and utility policy handed to regulators but, strangely, a large lobby still wants the government to be answerable on planning matters when Westminster is distrusted on so many other matters.
There may always be some losers with big infrastructure projects but everyone loses if vital schemes are never built. Bold politicians must accept that. And the Green lobby needn’t be the loser: it may delight in the delay that blocks a new runway at Heathrow but it would surely be pleased if a more dictatorial planning regime expedited a tidal barrier generating scheme?
