Have your say on the Infrastructure Bill

Do you have relevant expertise and experience or a special interest in the Infrastructure Bill which is currently passing through Parliament?

If so, you can submit your views in writing to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee which is going to consider this Bill.

Infrastructure Bill 2014-15

Aims of the Infrastructure Bill

This is a ‘portmanteau’ bill, covering a number of separate but related areas. It provides for:

Strategic Highways Companies

a new Strategic Highways Company, a Road Investment Strategy and a new monitor and watchdog for the company;

Environmental Control of Animal and Plant Species

a new regime for the control of invasive species and species that are no longer normally present;

Planning and Land

changes to planning law affecting development consent orders for nationally significant infrastructure projects and discharging some types of planning conditions;
the direct transfer of surplus public sector land held by an arm’s length body of a Government department to the Homes and Communities Agency or Greater London Authority;
the transfer of responsibility for Local Land Charge searches from individual local authorities in England and Wales to the Land Registry;
the introduction of zero carbon homes, through building regulations;

Energy

an electricity community right to buy for onshore renewables;
a new strategic approach for the recovery of oil and gas reserves;
streamlined access to onshore oil and gas reserves (for example when fracking for shale gas) and geothermal energy; and
the implementation of the international agreement, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Follow the progress of the Infrastructure Bill

The Infrastructure Bill 2014-15 was introduced in the House of Lords and completed its Parliamentary stages there on 19 November 2014. The Bill was presented to the House of Commons on 20 November 2014 and had its second reading debate on 8 December 2014, giving MPs their first opportunity to debate the main principles of the Bill.

The Bill has now been committed to a Public Bill Committee, where detailed examination of the Bill will take place. It will meet next on a date yet to be announced. The Public Bill Committee is expected to report to the House by Thursday 15 January 2015.

Guidance on submitting written evidence

Deadline for written evidence submissions

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration. The Committee is expected to meet for the first time on Tuesday 16 December; it will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage on Thursday 15 January 2015.

Please note: When the Public Bill Committee reports, it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it could report earlier than Thursday 15 January 2015.

What should written evidence cover?

Your submission should address matters contained within the Bill and concentrate on issues where you have a special interest or expertise, and factual information of which you would like the Committee to be aware.

It is helpful if the submission includes a brief introduction about you or your organisation. The submission should not have been previously published or circulated elsewhere.

If you have any concerns about your submission, please contact the Scrutiny Unit (details below).

How should written evidence be submitted?

Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk. Please note that submissions sent to the Government department in charge of the Bill will not be treated as evidence to the Public Bill Committee.

Submissions should be in the form of a Word document. A summary should be provided. Paragraphs should be numbered, but there should be no page numbering.

Essential statistics or further details can be added as annexes, which should also be numbered. To make publication easier, please avoid the use of coloured graphs, complex diagrams or pictures.

As a guideline, submissions should not exceed 3,000 words.

Please include in the covering email the name, address, telephone number and email address of the person responsible for the submission. The submission should be dated.

What will happen to my evidence?

The written evidence will be circulated to all Committee Members to inform their consideration of the Bill.

Most submissions will also be published on the internet as soon as possible after the Committee has started sitting.

The Scrutiny Unit can help with any queries about written evidence.

Scrutiny Unit contact details

Email: scrutiny@parliament.uk
Telephone: 020 7219 8387
Fax: 020 7219 8381
Address: Ian Hook
Senior Executive Officer
Scrutiny Unit, 7 Millbank
London SW1P 3JA

Further information

This article was produced by the Commons Digital Outreach Team. Follow the @HouseofCommons on Twitter for updates on the UK House of Commons Chamber.