Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the average time taken by his Department was to reach a decision on granting planning permission for low carbon infrastructure projects in the latest period for which data is available; and what information he holds on the average time for building works on those projects to commence following their approval.

For Nationally Significant Infrastructure cases, the Department has three months from receiving a planning report to making a Development Consent Decision. If the Department cannot reach a decision in that time, it may extend the deadline and must inform Parliament that it is doing so. In 2022 four decisions were made following extensions, averaging 90 days each, and three decisions were made within the three month deadline. Smaller projects do not come to this Department but apply to the Local Authority for planning permission in the usual way. This Department does not hold information on those cases nor on the time it takes to move from consent to build.