Nuclear power plants will be first to benefit from faster planning system amid energy crisis 

Nuclear power stations and offshore wind farms will benefit from a fast-track planning system to help tackle the energy crisis.

Levelling Up secretary Greg Clark yesterday unveiled proposals to speed up the process for considering so-called ‘nationally significant infrastructure’.

The move is designed to slash the time taken to approve major projects which have faced years of delays in the past.

It will cover large projects of national significance, such as nuclear reactors, major roads, new runways and big offshore wind farms.

Mr Clark said: ‘Particularly in a time of high inflation, things need to be done more quickly or costs of major infrastructure projects will rise.

‘These changes will help deliver new infrastructure more quickly, by speeding up the planning process which often moves too slowly.’

Sources said the proposals could see the time taken to approve a major offshore wind farm slashed from up to four years to just one.

The new system will not affect the public’s right to object to new infrastructure projects, which are already subject to a dedicated planning process.

But sources said the existing six-stage process would be accelerated to cut costs and provide benefits more rapidly.

Boris Johnson has set a target to approve the construction of one new nuclear power station a year this decade to try to cut reliance on imported energy.

Ministers hope to sign off approval of the Sizewell C reactor in Suffolk by tomorrow to coincide with a major speech on energy that the Prime Minister is planning.

Speaking to journalists yesterday, the Prime Minister said the public ‘want to know that we are going to have a long-term British energy security strategy’.

He added: ‘And we are. We are putting in more nuclear. You are going to be hearing more about that later this week. And we are putting in absolutely shedloads of wind power as well.’