The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK (CILT(UK)) has welcomed the introduction of a dedicated national planning policy for freight and logistics, saying it should help the planning system better recognise the infrastructure needed to support the UK's supply chains.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published on 17 August, introduces Policy E3, a standalone national decision-making policy covering freight and logistics uses and associated infrastructure.
The Framework also strengthens support for commercial development, enabling businesses to invest, expand, and adapt, and gives greater weight to renewable and low-carbon energy development and to electricity network infrastructure.
Daniel Parker-Klein, Director of Public Policy, Communications and Insight at CILT(UK), said: "CILT (UK) has consistently argued that freight needs to be considered from the outset when government makes decisions about transport, infrastructure and economic growth. It shouldn't be something we try to accommodate after everything else has been decided.
"Giving freight and logistics a dedicated national planning policy is therefore an important step. The movement of goods underpins the economy and our everyday lives, and the places and infrastructure that make those movements possible need to be properly recognised in the planning system."
Policy E3 recognises the particular operational and locational requirements of freight and logistics, including access to appropriate transport networks, environmental impacts, electric vehicle charging, neighbouring uses, night-time operations, and sufficient, secure vehicle parking.
The NPPF's definition of freight and logistics includes storage and distribution, rail terminals, intermodal facilities, HGV operating centres, lorry parking and ports.
Sue Terpilowski OBE FCILT, Chair of CILT(UK)'s Public Policy Committee, said: "For an industry that underpins virtually every part of the economy, freight has historically had a surprisingly uncomfortable relationship with the planning system. Too often the starting point has been the impacts that need to be mitigated rather than the essential economic and social function freight performs.
"Having a national decision-making policy specifically for freight and logistics is a significant and very welcome change. More importantly, E3 doesn't sit in isolation. Read alongside the new policies on economic development, electricity networks and low-carbon energy, the Framework begins to reflect rather better how modern freight networks actually work."
CILT(UK) believes the changes are particularly relevant as the freight sector tackles decarbonisation.
Electrifying commercial vehicle fleets can require considerably more than installing chargers. Larger depots may need substantial additional electricity capacity, involving transformers, substations, battery energy storage systems and new or reinforced grid connections.
Policy E2 recognises that the availability of electricity network infrastructure providing an adequate grid connection can contribute to the particular importance of a location when meeting unmet development need.
The revised Framework also strengthens national policy support for renewable and low-carbon energy development and electricity network infrastructure. Policy W3 requires substantial weight to be given to the benefits of this infrastructure for energy security, economic development and the transition to net zero. It also says applicants should not be required to demonstrate the need for renewable or low-carbon energy development and electricity network infrastructure.
Battery energy storage is included within the Framework's definition of low-carbon technologies.
Daniel added: "The real test will be how these policies are applied. Decarbonising freight isn't something planning, transport or energy policy can solve independently. Operators need the right sites, connections to the transport network and, increasingly, access to substantial amounts of electricity. Those things have to be planned together.
"There is a people issue here as well. Better recognition of lorry parking and driver facilities is welcome and long overdue. If we want a resilient freight system, we have to provide decent facilities for the professionals who keep it moving. CILT will be looking closely at how the new Framework is implemented and whether it results in better decisions on the freight and logistics infrastructure the country needs."
The changes could be particularly relevant to depot electrification, electric HGV charging hubs, battery storage, substations and the wider energy infrastructure required to decarbonise freight.
There are implications for ports too. Ports are included within the NPPF's definition of freight and logistics at a time when shore power and other forms of port electrification are creating substantial new electricity requirements at UK ports.
The new Framework, however, does not remove the need for developments to address their effects on communities and the environment. Freight and energy projects will continue to need to address issues such as highways, noise, landscape, ecology, flood risk, and neighbouring land uses. Development in the Green Belt remains subject to the Framework's specific Green Belt policies.
Sue said: "The recognition of grid availability could have significant practical consequences. The transition to electric HGVs means some depots and charging facilities will require megawatts of electricity, so it makes little sense to decide where they should go without considering where that power can actually be generated.
"For years we've effectively asked whether we can get enough electricity to the site the planning system wants us to use. We may increasingly be able to ask where the freight demand, transport connections and available power coincide. That's a much more realistic way to plan the next generation of freight infrastructure.
"Planning permission isn't a grid connection and the new Framework won't remove every obstacle to freight decarbonisation. But it does change the starting point of the conversation."
CILT(UK) says the freight and logistics sector should now familiarise itself with the new policies and consider how they can support investment in the infrastructure needed to increase the efficiency, resilience and decarbonisation of UK supply chains.