Friends of the Earth say that the government must make Climate Change a central consideration in the decision-making process.

[8] In November 2007 major environmental groups described the Planning Bill as a 'Developer's charter'[9] and the head of planning at the RSPB expressed concern saying that although the minister claimed that the bill will help protect the environment that it was more likely to aid developers trying to push through major schemes with scant regard to wildlife and the countryside and could "fast track environmental harm".

[10] John Cridland, then Deputy Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry supported the bill saying that it was in the national interest and would facilitate the building of infrastructure that will help Britain protect its energy security, build renewable power sources to cut carbon, and invest for the future".

[14] The Planning Act requires that all applications which sought development consent would have to follow the guidelines for National Policy Statements.

This had clear benefits for applicants who invested in a wealth of resources in order to bring development consent into fruition and in financial matters.

This new system was intended to streamline the process for applying for development consent through procedural amendments to the planning regime.

Despite claims that the general public would be cut out of the authorisation process, over 1,000 representations were made on the application that the IPC accepted.

Section 130(3) of the Act[20] ensures that national policy statements which are used to guide planning approval for NSIP's can be voted for by the parliament.