National Policy Statement for Ports

Baroness Pidgeon Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Grand Committee

[Baroness Pidgeon (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome this debate on the amended national policy statement for ports, the continuation of the presumption in favour of port development and the market-led approach based on demand. Some important points have been raised by noble Lords in this debate. I particularly support the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, about grid capacity for ports. It is an important issue.

A lot has happened since the previous statement was produced back in 2012 and designated under the Planning Act 2008. It is absolutely right that the Government are amending it at this time. Perhaps they should go further, as my colleague, my noble friend Lady Scott, mentioned. Overall, the amended national policy statement for ports is welcome. However, there are some clear opportunities to properly address short- comings in a number of areas.

Many in the sector feel strongly that the revised statement should reflect the industrial strategy underlining the role of ports as foundational to the UK economy and, crucially, affording ports critical national priority designation. If low-carbon energy projects and the energy NPS are granted critical national priority status, why not ports or port projects that directly support strategic national priority energy schemes? Perhaps the Minister will be able to explain the Government’s thinking.

One concern that has been expressed to me is that ports are far more than just gateways through which freight volumes travel and that the statement could better support tonnage-light development, which still supports economic growth and jobs, such as renewable energy, cruise and logistics development, as other noble Lords mentioned.

A major concern is around port connectivity, which needs to be strengthened in the statement. Rail and, in some cases, road projects are needed to help move goods to and from ports. A stronger emphasis on transport connectivity would help support such developments, particularly in the link to rail freight, modal shift and the development of Great British Railways. The statement recognises that much of the tonnage is concentrated in a small number of ports, with the top 15 ports accounting for around 80% of the UK’s total traffic. This makes rail highly relevant, yet it does not feature strongly enough, as has already been highlighted by my noble friend Lady Scott.

The statement feels like a missed opportunity to advance decarbonisation and modal shift. Ports seem to be considered in isolation from the rest of the supply chain activity, yet they are among the largest generators of freight traffic. Ports should be used to drive change in the economy and the environment—therefore, I would have liked to have seen a greater focus on transport connectivity and onward rail transport links. Will this area be further reviewed by the Government?

The revised draft restates the position that there is a compelling need for additional port capacity over the next 30 years to respond to forecast growth in volumes for all commodity types, to support offshore energy and ensure competition and indeed resilience—something on which I am sure we all agree.

I must thank a number of organisations, which have briefed me on the key issues in the sector, including Midlands Connect, Associated British Ports and RenewableUK. One issue that came up time and time again is that the amended statement does not provide the greater certainty needed by the sector to meet the demand for floating offshore wind—FLOW. Ports are expected to play a pivotal role in transitioning to net zero and FLOW will need bespoke port facilities, as we have heard from other speakers. More focus is therefore needed on the future of FLOW development, as the UK does not currently have the required port infrastructure to develop industrial-scale FLOW development. The finalised statement should provide clarity to decision-makers in this area.

Can the Minister also update the Committee on what actions are being taken via the Crown Estate’s supply chain accelerator programme? As I have already mentioned, one key anomaly is that the nationally significant infrastructure project threshold for ports does not suit port infrastructure upgrades critical for offshore wind development. I ask the Government again to consider this type of infrastructure as a critical national priority, which would mirror the approach to offshore infrastructure and associated cabling.

I welcome that impact assessments need to be updated to reflect environmental legislation, as well as to introduce the concept of marine net gain. Given this ambition, what support will the Government provide to guide applicants through the range of plans that now exist for marine areas? Although it is outside the direct scope of the document, this policy has a crucial role in supporting regional and local port schemes that fall beneath the thresholds. To that end, and following points raised at the Commons Transport Committee, what will the Government do to ensure that the document is given due consideration by all planning authorities when considering future port schemes?

What consideration has been given to strengthening the monitoring measures, with a requirement for either annual parliamentary reporting or monitoring conducted by an independent body such as the OEP? One final question that remains is how this reads across to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently making its way through Parliament, in particular in areas such as environmental delivery plans and the nature restoration levy. Will this statement need updating again shortly? I await the Minister’s response to my questions with interest.