BPA responds to DfT's draft NPS for Ports

The BPA has responded to the DfT’s a National Policy Statement (NPS) for ports and our submission outlines the ports sector’s perspective.

We support the concept of a NPS for ports and see it as a welcome development. The ports industry will look to the NPS to deliver more certainty into a planning process that is currently largely characterized by uncertainty.

Some BPA members are more likely than others to be directly affected by the requirement for the largest projects to be referred to the Infrastructure Planning Commission. Even so, we believe that the NPS will have a significant influence far beyond those projects above the threshold, in that the planning principles will be similarly applied to a range of below the threshold projects to be handled by the Marine Management Organization. Our response, therefore, reflects the potential impact of the proposals both in relation to the IPC and beyond.

Parts of the draft NPS underplay some of the features which make the UK ports sector unique within the EU. It is fundamentally important that the IPC begins with a clear appreciation of the structure and dynamics of the sector. The number of port projects to be submitted to the IPC is likely to be very modest in the short term. The IPC’s experience of dealing with port developments could be sporadic, reducing the chances of it being able to build up quickly a body of knowledge and experience of the sector.