Faster and fairer planning decisions on new energy infrastructure were a step closer as Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband laid before Parliament draft texts setting out the national need for a low carbon secure energy mix.

He also set out an ambitious new policy for the transition to clean coal.

The draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) published are a crucial part of reforms that will remove unnecessary planning delays facing large energy proposals. They will be the basis on which individual planning decisions are made from next March by the new Infrastructure Planning Commission.

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Mr Miliband said: "The threat of climate change means we need to make a transition from a system that relies heavily on high carbon fossil fuels, to a radically different system that includes nuclear, renewable and clean coal power.

"Change is also needed for energy security. In a world where our North Sea reserves are declining, a more diverse low carbon energy mix is a more secure energy mix, less vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of any one fuel.

"In exploiting new technologies we can also lock green jobs and growth, not carbon, into the UK's future energy sector.

"The current planning system is a barrier to this shift. It serves neither the interests of energy security, the interests of the low carbon transition, nor the interests of people living in areas where infrastructure may be built, for the planning process to take years to come to a decision.

"That is why we are undertaking fundamental reform of the planning system which will result in a more efficient, transparent and accessible process."

(CD/GK)