The approval of plans and projects - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 373

Box 22.3 The content of national policy statements
A national policy statement may, in relation to a specified description of develo pment:
a) set out the amount, size or type of development which is appropriate nationally or
for a specified area
b) set out criteria to be applied in deciding whether a location is suitable (or
potentially suitable) for such development
c) set out the relevant weight to be given to specified criteria
d) identify one or more locations as suitable (or potentially suitable)
e) identify one or more statutory undertakers as appropriate persons to carry out the
development
f) set out circumstances in which it is appropriate for a specified type of action to be
taken to mitigate the impact of the development.
HMG Planning Bill 2007/08 Clause 5 sub-section 5
protracted wrangling within and between Government departments. On the other
hand with publicly contentious proposals (as many will be) Ministers will appear to
be sheltering behind the Commission in making difficult and potentially unpopular
decisions, involving trade-offs which should rightly be the focal point of the political
process.
22.6 Regional Funding Allocation
As explained in Chapter 18 the list of 'prioritised' transport investments included in
an English regional strategy can be viewed as a long-term 'pool' from which schemes
will be developed and considered for inclusion in the implementation programmes of
local highway authorities and other agencies. In the past this has been a continuing,
ad hoc process steered by the Government Regional Office which vets and ultimately
approves the funding of schemes in the context of available resources.
In 2004 the Government published a consultation document with proposals
for improving this short-term process, linking it more broadly with strategies being
pursued in each region and giving regional bodies the opportunity to offer advice
(HM Treasury et al. 2004). The Government would give each region a three-year
funding allocation (the Regional Funding Allocation or RFA) covering certain items
of expenditure in three sectors - transport, housing and economic development -
within which advice would be framed. Regional bodies could then comment on the
balance of funding between and within the three sectors and propose individual
prioritised schemes.
Guidance issued subsequently stated that the purpose of requesting advice was
to enhance regional input into Government policy development, showing how
such priorities relate to each other to form a coherent, credible and strategic vision
for improving the economic performance of regions and how these priorities are
aligned to resources.
(HM Treasury et al. 2005 para 1.4)