Planning Bill

My Lords, underground lines are covered by the permitted development procedure, so it applies to them. Electricity lines under territorial waters are not part of the Bill but they can be consented as part of a nationally significant project such as an offshore wind farm. Permission for electricity lines under the sea is currently granted by the Secretary of State under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 and will in future be granted by the marine management organisation, subject to legislation which we all hope to see in your Lordships’ House as quickly as possible. The noble Duke raised some interesting points on the electricity transmission system in general. We clearly need new investment in the grid infrastructure together with changes to the existing access arrangements to support the connection of new renewable and other essential generation. That will help us to meet the UK share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target, which I need not remind noble Lords is extremely challenging. I understand that £560 million has already been committed to upgrading the network in Scotland and the north of England to connect renewable projects. In the recent transmission price control, Ofgem set out plans to invest some £4 billion in the electricity transmission network. In addition, as noble Lords who debated the issue during passage of the Energy Bill will be aware, in June 2008 the Government and Ofgem set out a package of measures in the transmission access review which, taken together, will remove or significantly reduce grid-related access barriers. We have taken order-making power in order to intervene if agreement is not reached between Ofgem and the companies concerned. The noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, raised a point about decisions on projects in England and Wales that are below 132 kilovolts. These decisions will continue to be taken by the Secretary of State under Section 37 of the Electricity Act subject to certain exceptions. We intend that the decisions will be made with regard to the electricity networks national policy statement. The intent is that the IPC will deal only with electricity lines of national significance. The Government intend to conduct a review of where such cases might best be decided in future. We intend to conduct it over a similar timescale to the review, to which my right honourable friend the Secretary of State, Mrs Blears, has committed, to examine whether there is a case for extending the grounds for ministerial intervention in IPC decisions. My understanding is that the review is intended to commence about two years after the IPC has accepted its first application. I sympathise with the commitment to renewables by the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, and his comments about railway infrastructure in Wales. I use railways in Wales, particularly from Birmingham to Aberystwyth, and I know what he means, but that is perhaps to stray a little from the point of our debate today, although it sets the context. He will not be surprised by my answer because, as was set out in the debates in the other place, the UK Government have taken the view that reserving powers on nationally significant energy infrastructure is the best way of developing the UK’s long-term energy strategy. The planning White Paper made it clear that the current devolution settlement works well, and the Government propose that it should continue. On that basis, the intention is that projects must be included within the IPC’s remit and thus benefit from a quicker and more effective system that improves the ability of individuals and local communities to participate in the process. I noted carefully the noble Lord’s comments about Welsh confidence in the IPC process. I want to make it clear that, under our proposals, UK Ministers will consult Welsh Ministers in drawing up national policy statements that apply in Wales. This requirement will be imposed by secondary legislation. Welsh Ministers will also be consulted by developers in advance of any consent application and by the IPC during its consideration of any scheme in Wales. As for confidence in the IPC process, it is proposed that two or three IPC commissioners will be appointed on the advice of Welsh Ministers where an application to be determined by the IPC relates to land in Wales. Where reasonably practical, at least one of the members of the decision-making body—the panel or, for applications examined by a single commissioner, the council—should be a commissioner nominated by Welsh Ministers. We think that that is the best approach to ensuring consistency with the devolution settlement and sufficient involvement of the Welsh dynamic, if I may put it that way, in the process. As for the 50 megawatt threshold raised by the noble Lord, it is defined in the Electricity Act 1989 as being the appropriate boundary between national—in other words, England and Wales—and sub-national decision-making, and no case has been brought before us to suggest that we should change the threshold.