Do local economic interests matter when regulating nationally significant infrastructure? The case of renewable energy infrastructure projects

Abstract

Government policy in the UK, as in many countries, sees investment in infrastructure projects – particularly large ones – as a key means of supporting the national economy. But where does this leave local economic interests in the loci of these projects? And how does the regulation of such projects handle these interests? These are the questions addressed by this paper in the context of renewable energy projects that are regulated by the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime. Drawing on original research into the regulation of 12 projects – and using thematic analysis of key documents and focus groups with local participants – the analysis highlights the limited understanding of the local economy presented, the challenges that local businesses face in participating and the partial protection offered to them. It concludes by proposing agendas for reforms and future research.

Major Wind Energy & the Interface of Policy and Regulation: A Study of Welsh NSIPs

“…The rest of the ESRC-funded study data that was not used in this article has been reported on in other publications (Lee, 2017;Natarajan et al, 2018Natarajan et al, , 2019Rydin et al, 2018bRydin et al, , 2017Rydin et al, , 2018cLee et al, 2018;Rydin et al, 2018a). The findings indicated strong dissatisfaction amongst the public, including concerns over the representation of different interests (Rydin et al, 2018b(Rydin et al, , 2018c and acknowledgement of spatial distribution impacts (Natarajan et al, 2019), which supports the present line of enquiry.…”

Silences, categories and black-boxes: Towards an analytics of the relations of power in planning regulation

“…They had the benefit of a middle-class community based in one of the wealthiest property markets in southern England including professional expertise relevant to a planning dispute. This contrasted with the residential communities found in the other cases (Rydin et al., 2018a).…”

“…Some noted the limited opportunity to ask questions they felt were important, including on measures for monitoring the implementation of the DCO and its conditions. The research found particular issues with local business involvement (Rydin et al., 2018a). Consultation with local businesses was uneven with fishing interests faring better than other sectors such as leisure/tourism due to the existence of a national-level protocol for engagement.…”

Perspectives on Scale in Participatory Spatial Planning

“…This gives rise to a default position of involving communities who are 'local to development', particularly when engaging those in the proximity of major infrastructure projects (Natarajan et al, 2018). That is not to say that identifying local impacts of any development is simple, and studies in the UK have demonstrated the complexities involved (Lee, 2017;Rydin et al, 2018aRydin et al, , 2018b. However, the notion of end-user participation frames inclusivity in terms of a locality, and this connects the scale of participatory processes to the scope of direct physical development impacts.…”