DCO: Friend or Foe?

It has been five and a half years since it became compulsory for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) to submit Development Consent Order (DCO) applications under The Planning Act 2008. At the time of its inception, it was heralded as ushering in a new era of streamlined, fast-track planning decisions for the nation’s most important infrastructure projects.

The objective of delivering planning decisions for these types of projects in an efficient and prompt fashion is certainly a welcome one. But has the DCO application process achieved this laudable outcome?

This paper, produced by Lichfields, provides a focussed analysis of the time taken by the NSIPs that have completed the DCO application process, to provide a clearer understanding of the timescales involved, and if decisions really are being made efficiently.