Steve Barker responds to Building magazine article on Government plans to unveil energy policy

Britain’s energy infrastructure is long overdue for a massive overhaul and indeed has been in this position for at least a decade now. The lights really will go off if we do not grasp the nettle now. The current planning system is a barrier to progress and the Government is right to tackle it head on.

By their very nature the long term power station projects we are talking about take a long time from inception to completion and our energy security together with the need to move forward on the transition to low carbon (including capture and storage) and clean coal stations is of paramount importance

As well as planning for the new it is absolutely critical that our existing infrastructure is redesigned or retrofitted for the ever changing environmental conditions we are encountering. Frankly the impact of our environment on us is becoming as important as our impact on the environment and we need to rewrite the rules to cope with this.

We must set aside large sums of money to deal with the impact of rapid climate change and its effect on existing infrastructure because for instance after the summer floods of 2007 it was found that several hundred substations around the UK are at risk of flooding. So the debate is much wider than the headline nuclear discussion”

Steven Barker, senior partner, Robinson Low Francis