Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he plans to take to improve local consultation on nationally significant infrastructure projects.

Effective consultation with local communities on nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) is essential to ensuring that projects are delivered in the right way. That is why on 30 April we updated our guidance on public consultation during the pre-application stage for NSIPs.

This new guidance outlines the expectations examining inspectors will have that effective engagement will support better quality applications. Applicants will now be required to include a clear programme of engagement which reflects the complexity and scale of the project proposed.

The guidance also emphasises the importance of frontloaded consultation so that applicants can resolve issues at an early stage, and how communities can influence and shape projects so they can be accommodated to maximise local benefits and minimise any disbenefits.