This week we witnessed an example of the kind of glacial, obstructive process that is hindering investment by British businesses. It’s a failing planning system that has seen an application for a new state-of-the-art pig and poultry unit mired in red tape for THREE YEARS so far. Not what Keir Starmer would want to hear given his current drive to get Britain building.

Nick Allen, CEO of the British Meat Processors Association attended a Kings Lynn and Norfolk Borough Council planning committee meeting on Thursday alongside Cranswick who were seeking approval for an application for a new pig and poultry unit which will contribute jobs and economic activity to the area and play its part in shoring up Britains increasingly precarious domestic food security.

Despite the fact that the Environment Agency has approved the site to house up to 29,000 pigs Cranswick’s proposal was only for 14,000 reared in extra space to RSPCA Assured standards. And yet the application suffered another refusal by a committee that struggled to answer simple questions about the proposal and had to be corrected over erroneous information at one point.

Regardless of the eventual outcome, the process should not, by any reasonable measure, be taking this long. Businesses that want to make new investments in British industry should not have to commit such a disproportionate amount of resource and time just to get a decision. Apart from the disincentive to invest it clearly poses, this broken system is proving a huge barrier to realising the Labour Government’s goals of growth and food security.