Planning applications for new large wind farms could cost £371,000 (US $627,000) when the new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) is up and running.
The IPC is being set up by the UK Government to speed up decisions on nationally significant infrastructure projects such as large wind farms of over 50 Megawatts electricity generating capacity. Consultation on a raft of regulations and guidance documents has been launched and ends on 5th October. The main aim of the consultation is to set out the fees that will be demanded by the IPC and the matters that the IPC should take into account in deciding applications.
Typical fees are outlined in the document as being in the order of £96,000 (US $162,000) for a single commissioner case, £221,000 (US $374,000) for a normal panel case and £371,000 (US $627,000) for a large panel case.
It is expected that the IPC will be up and running from 1st March 2010 when the secondary legislation comes into force.
Via a different consultation, the Government is also trying to streamline the planning process. Information requested by planning officers is to be more proportionate to the development being decided upon- say the Government. The idea is to eliminate uncessary and sometimes onerous administrative burdens on applicants, thereby helping to stimulate the development sector. There have been direct criticisms of obligatory documents such as the “Design and Access Statement” which for many developments are irrelevant. The consultation deadline for this review is 23rd October.
