Speeches by Young.

“A stated aim of the amendments to planning policy for critical national priority infrastructure is to ensure that the national importance of those projects is considered, while encouraging higher quality applications. Do you think the amendments could encourage higher quality applications, despite the presumption of co…”

“Could there be more emphasis on combining renewables with other uses? Could the national policy statements be more explicit in encouraging that?”

“Charles, is this something that the national policy statements need to make more explicit?”

“I was thinking about national food security. That is not just about the individual farmer, their business and what is best for their own business. It is about protecting the best farmland in order to continue food production.”

“Eleri and Chandni, did you have anything on that note?”

“Peta, we have heard that objectors to infrastructure projects are already demanding sight of commercial and grid connection agreements. Shouldn’t that be necessary, if grid connections are to be a relevant consideration?”

“Graham, should national policy statements give significant weight to the availability of a grid connection for a proposed project?”

“Let us move on to the question of grid connections, which we discussed in the previous session. Again, I will start with Peta. The National Infrastructure Planning Association has referred to misunderstandings emerging about the role of the regional capacity targets in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. What further cla…”

“Ali, do you want to add anything?”

“Is there not a mixed message coming from the Government on this, if they are making it not a requirement but at the same time are trying to set out in the guidance how it should be done?”

“Graham, do you have anything to add?”

“Could further amendments to the NPSs support the intent of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to consent projects faster and ensure smooth transition until those reforms come into force?”

“We have just been talking about the presumption of consent for critical national infrastructure. How do you think that new policy will interact with that? Do you think that the NPSs need to set out a strong expectation that consultation is still expected? That then leaves the question, why remove the requirement in the…”

“As you know, the Government are using the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to remove statutory pre-application consultation requirements. To implement that effectively, what further guidance do you want to see in the national policy statements?”

“How will the EDP interact with existing guidance on overhead lines? Does that not need to be explained in the national policy statements as well?”

“Julian, you seemed to suggest earlier that it was not possible for you to communicate with the whole of the public, but, in producing the electricity transmission design principles, how will you ensure that there is close engagement with the communities who will host these transmission projects, so that the rules do no…”

“Thank you.”

“If we give significant weight to grid connection, is that not going to tip the balance even further in favour of infrastructure build, and raise concerns about overlooking environmental and other considerations?”

“Is there not a bit of a chicken and egg thing here, in that the Government is looking to prioritise new grid connections based on projects being ready to go, including having planning consent, but if you give weight to the availability of existing grid connections, those projects that don’t currently have one will not …”

“Yes. You could have an explicit requirement for renewable developers to reinstate.”