The UK government said Wednesday it will look into amending the country’s planning policy to accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle chargepoints, Kallanish reports.

The plan announced by the chancellor of the exchequer – or British finance minister – Jeremy Hunt, would see the government potentially removing “unnecessary planning constraints” to expand the EV charging infrastructure. A consultation on amending the National Planning Policy Framework will be launched shortly.

The government has not disclosed the national average planning permission timeline, nor what the proposed target will be.  

Low-carbon infrastructure is a critical national priority, and so should be EV chargers and charging hubs, the government says in its autumn statement. According to Zapmap, the UK saw its charging infrastructure grow 45% this year, reaching 51,516 public EV chargepoints at the end of October. Yet, deployment levels are far below what industry claims to be needed.

Hunt’s promise to remove barriers to investment in critical infrastructure by reforming the planning system to speed up approvals, is also set to benefit access to the grid. The aim is to reduce the time it takes for new projects to be connected to the grid. The target is to free up over 100 gigawatts of capacity, helping the electrification and decarbonisation of the economy.

Meanwhile, some £960 million ($1.20 billion) have been earmarked to support clean energy sectors including hydrogen and carbon capture utilisation and storage, through the so-called Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA). The government also announced a £50m support for battery innovation.  

The long-anticipated details of the Advanced Manufacturing Plan, which promises £2 billion in funds for the transition of the automotive industry, and the UK Battery Strategy are yet to be published. The autumn statement says the government will set out more on its actions to support investment and growth in the manufacturing sector “shortly.”

Reacting to the announcement, European think tank E3G said the announcements, which follow the government's decision in October to weaken net-zero regulations, are not enough to keep the UK economy competitive. It claims the additional £3 billion support over five years will “hardly make a difference” compared to the US’ $369 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

 “The UK has fallen behind the US, EU and China in clean tech investment and the announcements today are not enough to get us back in the race. Whilst reforms to speed up grid connections and boost funding for green industry are helpful, there is no credible net-zero investment plan and no green industrial strategy. This response is incoherent, too little and too late,” concludes Ed Matthew, campaigns director at E3G.