National Infrastructure Commission legislation shelved

The government has published the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, which unexpectedly omits provisions placing the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) on a statutory footing.

A consultation response in May 2016 committed the government to legislating for the NIC, formalising it as an independent, non-governmental body and obliging the government to respond to its recommendations. The Neighbourhood Planning Bill was originally conceived as the Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill to implement that commitment.

While this omission is significant, the NIC continues to operate in its current, non-statutory footing and the government has not officially resiled from its commitment to legislate, although it is unclear when that may happen.

Source: Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016-17.