Since the Planning Act 2008, a new class of ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects’ (NSIPs) has emerged, with its own set of rules on public consultation and engagement. Since then, and especially following the launch of the National Infrastructure Strategy, NSIP planning has taken on heightened significance, with over 100 projects going through its bespoke statutory process.
In this article, we’ll break down the basics with some key case studies, and explain how NSIP consultation works in practice to strike a balance between national needs and local concerns.
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning: How Does it Work?
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects are the sorts of development that you won’t typically see in Local Plans. By their very nature, they’re meant to address larger-than-local needs — such as large strategic road schemes, power stations, or water and waste facilities.
These projects are of vital importance to the UK economy, and if implemented correctly, could go a long way toward addressing regional inequality, productivity, and climate change.
As you might expect, NSIPs go through a very different planning consent process to your typical construction project. That’s partly due to their complexity, but mostly down to their huge scale. Take the example of the recent Southampton to London Pipeline Project, which supplies Gatwick airport with aviation fuel, and travels 105km underground through several English counties.
So, instead of waiting for multiple Local Authorities to agree, NSIP applications are largely decided by the Planning Inspectorate and Secretaries of State in central government. Often referred to as a ‘one stop shop’, NSIP planning is meant to produce faster decisions, more accurate project timelines, and a lower investment risk for developers.
Here’s how the NSIP planning process works in short:
- The Developer begins a frontloaded ‘pre-application consultation’ with Local Authorities, national agencies, and local communities. This dialogue is extensive — including town hall events, focus groups, surveys, and online consultation — helping to identify any major sticking points or issues which might render the project unsustainable. At this stage, developers often collect geospatial responses to make a strong case in their application.
- Plans are examined by the national Planning Inspectorate (PINS).
- PINS recommends the relevant Secretary of State approve or reject the development.
- If successful, a Development Consent Order (DCO) is granted to the Developer. Unlike regular planning consent, this is a statutory instrument that carries criminal penalties if not followed.
Overall, the process lasts between two to four years, with the pre-application NSIP consultation taking up the majority of the timeframe. For more information, check out this detailed video explainer from the Planning Inspectorate.
NSIP Planning & Projects 2025
For a full list of national infrastructure planning consultations and projects, please refer to the Planning Inspectorate’s website for England and Wales.
Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Plant
Hinkley Point C is the first new nuclear power reactor being built in the UK for more than 30 years. Currently the largest construction project in Europe, it’s expected to provide about 7% of the UK’s electricity needs for the next 60 years.
The project has also faced a significant amount of media attention due to ballooning costs (up to £46 billion adjusted for inflation) along with delays due to Covid and supply chain issues. However, it’s widely considered to be a catalyst for a new era of British nuclear energy, with an extensive skills development program that will create a specialised workforce in the field, and lessons learned for the future.
The Planning Inspectorate granted a DCO for Hinkley Point C back in 2013, and construction is expected to be finalised in 2029.
Net Zero Teesside Industrial Centre
Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) is building a gas-fired power station with carbon capture technology at the mouth of the River Tees near Middlesbrough.
The plant will generate enough electricity to power over 1 million UK homes and is expected to create over 3,000 jobs in the local area. Crucially, it will capture up to 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, transporting them via the Northern Endurance Partnership’s (NEP) pipeline for secure subsea storage. This would make it the first gas-fired power station of its kind in the world, making Teesside a world-leader in carbon capture tech and hopefully encouraging more industrial investment in the region.
The NSIP consultation and application process is now completed, with construction starting this year before it goes live in 2028.
Cambridge Wastewater Treatment Facility
Anglian Water Services hope to build a new wastewater treatment plant in the Cambridge area, which they claim will be operationally net zero, energy neutral, and more resilient to storm flows.
The project is central to the Cambridge 2050 plan, which aims to oversee the creation of 150,000 new homes in the urban area in the next 25 years to ‘supercharge’ its science and tech sectors. A big hurdle is to ensure adequate water supply, and these sewage works are a significant piece of the puzzle to put in place before construction ramps up.
The Planning Inspectorate has forwarded its recommendation to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and a final decision is expected in January 2025.
Engaging With Local Communities on NSIPs
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects have strict consultation requirements, including legal duties to publicise the application, consult with local people/authorities, and act on their feedback.
Developers will need to compile this information in a Consultation Report that goes to the Planning Inspectorate. Of course, this needs to be as thorough and convincing as possible, which is why place-based engagement is so crucial to making a well-reasoned case. It shows that the developer has taken the time to truly understand the specific geographic and community contexts of their project, and explain why, where, and how they’ve responded to local feedback.
So, what has NSIP consultation actually achieved? Let’s take a closer look at our examples:
- During the Southampton to London Pipeline Project, the developer first sought feedback on six broad corridor options, each approximately 200 meters wide. The second consultation suggested a preferred route (20-30 meters wide) within that chosen corridor. Finally, a third consultation focused on design refinements resulting from previous feedback.
- Hinkley Point C had one of the most complex consultation processes in British history, with ongoing engagement to this day. A key topic of discussion was the environmental impact of the plant, especially how it will safely pump the large quantities of water needed to cool the nuclear reactor without harming local fish populations. The current proposal is to create a new 340-hectare wetland area with saltmarsh, seagrass, and kelp habitats, plus new native oyster beds and routes for migrating fish in rivers.
- Net Zero Teesside had a comparatively more localised consultation process focusing on the specific impacts on the Teesside community. Key areas of discussion included air quality, noise pollution during construction and operation, traffic management, visual impacts of the plant, and the potential effects on local ecology related to pipeline construction — with six issue specific hearings and representations from local groups. The developer went above-and-beyond the Planning Inspectorate’s statutory requirements, and as such, the project enjoys strong public support in the region.
- Cambridge Wastewater Treatment Facility hosted a multi-phase consultation process with virtual exhibition spaces and webinars on their digital engagement platform. They heard representations from two local conservation groups, several council bodies, regulators, and local MPs. Together, this contributed to the site selection and design of the facility, with voluntary agreement being reached with local landowners where possible.
Why NSIPs Are Sometimes Controversial (And What Can be Done to Find Consensus)?
Of course, things can go wrong with NSIP consultations. Projects of such scale are almost always contentious — perhaps due to environmental concerns, traffic and noise complaints, and the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders. In short, it’s clear to see how these situations create ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ (and a lot of media coverage!)
Currently, NSIPs are also subject to slightly different environmental regulations. Unlike regular construction projects, NSIPs don’t need to demonstrate Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG); where the natural environment is left in a measurably better state than before construction started. However, these rules are set to soon change, with DEFRA committing to apply BNG requirements to all NSIPs from November 2025. With this move, environmental consultation is expected to become even more commonplace and important in the years ahead.
The purpose of NSIP consultation is therefore to find a ‘middle ground’ where the fewest people are unhappy with a development, and the benefits of construction are widely felt among the communities most affected. A common compromise is to offer a financial incentive to local residents.
Under the previous Conservative government, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a ‘pounds-for-pylons’ plan where people living close to newly-installed electricity equipment would get £1,000 a year off their energy bills for the next decade. More recently, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband suggested that these benefits could be extended to include infrastructure like wind farms and solar plants, as part of his ‘Clean Power Action Plan’ to achieve Labour’s target of 100% green electricity by 2030. And some developers, like RES, already offer a Local Energy Discount Scheme of their own to win the favour of local communities.
What’s on the Agenda for NSIP Planning Reform?
“One of the striking aspects of the English planning system has been the near-constant level of change that the system has been subject to.” — Raynsford Review, TCPA, 2018
As a distinct legal entity, NSIPs follow a different set of rules to those found in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This means they’ve avoided much of the spotlight during the 2024 NPPF reform, although there are some tentative changes. Under new rules, Local and Strategic Authorities have been instructed to identify suitable sites for laboratories, gigafactories, and data centres, signalling a potential expansion of the NSIP’s scope. There are also calls from politicians to expand the NSIP to include major housing developments, such as Labour’s New Towns programme.
Some pressure groups are calling for wider NSIP reform. In 2018, the Town and Country Planning Association’s Raynsford Review recommended the NSIP regime be integrated into the UK’s wider planning system, in order to create a ‘logical narrative’ of rules and jurisdictions. They particularly criticise the over-reliance of NSIPs on National Planning Statements, in which citizens have very little say compared to the NPPF. This is emblematic of the wider debate around planning control and citizen participation — i.e. to what extent decisions should be made by politicians vs the community. For the time being, it seems that NSIPs will lean towards the former approach.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the final say on whether Planning Consent is granted for an Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project rests with the relevant Secretary of State, and there are always going to be some people who are simply unhappy with the decision. But this doesn’t mean public engagement is a mere legal hurdle to a foregone-conclusion.
In reality, consensus-building exercises give a genuine voice to local people, and this massively influences how an NSIP planning proposal turns out upon delivery. All around the country, NSIP consultations have contributed to better-informed design choices, fairer infrastructure levies, and compensatory incentive schemes for nearby residents.
NSIPs may be a top-down approach to planning, but that doesn’t mean the community is left out of the process. Infrastructure consultations are how we find a happy middle ground and make better decisions on industrial land use — helping governments hit their Net Zero targets, grow the economy, and improve quality of life for local citizens.
Citizen Space is the go-to platform for connecting governments, developers, and citizens. If you’d like to learn more about how our software streamlines public engagement and provides planners with enriched geospatial data, book a free demo and we’ll walk you through it.
Sign up for the Delib newsletter here to get relevant updates posted to your email inbox.