Overview of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
William Upton KC specialises in planning, environmental and local government law. His experience ranges across the civil and criminal courts, as well as planning inquiries. He has acted for local authorities, the Environment Agency, private developers and third parties. He has a particular interest in the overlap between planning and environmental law, and the regulatory control of land use. He leads the Public, Planning and Environmental Law team in chambers.
1. With the publication of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in March 2025, we have a clearer idea of the Labour Government’s ambitions. The Bill was first announced as part of the King’s Speech in general terms.
2. The Bill is an important part of a much wider agenda to promote growth. There were some early quick wins after the election – with onshore windfarms being encouraged again, and solar farm approvals. By December 2024, we had the revised NPPF, and its rewriting of Green Belt policy – initially in a consultation draft and now for real.
3. This is addition to changes that were being brought through using other legislation. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 introduced a package of enforcement measures (in particular the end of the 4-year rule for exemptions). It should also lead to the introduction of standardized National Development Management Policies (NDMP) later in 2025. The Government has also responded to the consultation on the implementation of plan-making reforms in LURA 2023, including the 30-month timeframe for making local plans and greater use of digital resources.
4. The provisions of the Environment Act 2o21 for Biodiversity Net Gain (at least +10% ‘BNG’ is now a requirement for all new development) are fully in force. It is not proposed to change this, despite the new provisions in the 2025 Bill for a Nature Restoration Fund. The multiple local authority-scale “Local Nature Recovery Strategies” are under way.
5. There has been consultation on a policy change for “brownfield passports”, which may come forward. Planning Practice guidance (PPG) revisions have been made on green belt and brownfield land proposals - published on 27th February. Further PPG updates are expected on viability and flood risk.
6. Some may recall that a New Towns Taskforce has been established - looking ahead so to speak. It has had a call for sites, has received over 100 responses, and it is due to report in the summer 2025 – when we then have a list of potential new towns and urban extensions.
7. It is not entirely clear what vision is now driving the system, other than the needs to build and to grow the economy. We still do not have a development plan for England. Both Wales and Scotland have achieved this, but we are still dealing with a patchwork of local plans in England. At the national level, the Government policy does now need to meet environmental targets (admittedly high level, set under the Environment Act 2021), as well as achieving net zero by 2050 (a commitment made as a matter of law, under the amended Climate Change Act), and there is an Industrial Strategy.
8. Separately, the government is continuing to pursue its devolution programme – and the six areas due to become mayor-led strategic authorities by May 2026 will mean that some 80% of the population will be covered. Further creation of unitary authorities is proposed. In a further move to simplify the process, there was a written ministerial statement on 10 March 2025 about reforming the statutory consultee system and the number of bodies needing to be consulted.
9. There is however a tension in the national policy that has been advanced, given the emphasis on seeking economic growth. Whilst the earlier parts of the NPPF uses the language of sustainable development, it is not really carried through. The ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ is really a way of giving greater weight to (or – to use the jargon - a tilted balance in favour of) housing need in areas that are not meeting the nationally-set delivery targets.
10. An alternative critique has been provided by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) - [1]
“In fact, the NPPF is a market-led investment strategy designed to maximise GDP (gross domestic product) growth, predicated on the assumption that democracy and the environment get in the way of profit maximisation. In this development model it is important that the worst excesses of environmental and social harm are mediated, but only when this does not compromise the needs of private investors.”
11. As the TCPA identified, the real causes of this housing crisis is “the chronic lack of investment in homes for social rent, along with a complete reliance on the private sector to build the right quantity of homes, in the right place, at affordable prices.”
12. I would add that the main cause of delay in the planning permission system is underfunding – so that the system as designed does not that the staff to run it to its intended timetable. Few local planning authorities process applications within the required 13-week timeframe. A chronic example of that is the diversion of the Planning Inspectorate’s resources to appeals about new development, so that the time estimate for a planning enforcement appeal is that it will take 56 weeks to determine as the mean (as opposed to 32 weeks for a s.78; judged as at dec 2024). Clearly, there is a suggestion that planning fees could be raised – but the main complaint is that the ‘blockers’ and the regulators should stop getting in the way.
13. Admittedly, the approval of the complex infrastructure projects is more than about funding. Between 2012 and 2021, the average consenting time for NSIPs rose from 2.6 to 4.2 years.
14. The last government did much to speed up decisions - in particular, by granting more deemed permissions through permitted development rights. There is a bit a three-tier system – of PD rights, prior approval and only then full planning permissions. The talk now is of further deregulation, and encouraging the statutory consultees to respect the need for growth – in a strange echo of what the conservatives used to say, and despite what the Grenfell tragedy and the water industry travails have revealed as the likely result of trusting the market to do more self-regulation.
15. The Bill is informed by a series of “working papers” published at the end of 2024 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on streamlining planning decisions and includes:
a. introduction of a national scheme of delegation for planning committees,
b. re-introduction of spatial planning, and
c. reform of Compulsory Purchaser powers including the removal of hope value and delegation of decision taking to Inspectors, Mayors or Councils.
16. There were a lot of press releases, in advance of Bill being published in the afternoon of 11 March. The Bill seeks to:
a. amend the Planning Act 2008, to provide “for a faster and more certain consenting process for critical infrastructure” and to strengthen the policy framework around National Policy Statements (“NPS”s);
b. Deliver “a more efficient and predictable system” for energy infrastructure projects, including:
i. Reforms to update the electricity grid connection process;
ii. Establishing a new cap and floor scheme to support the deployment of long duration electricity storage (LDES);
iii. Reforms to electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland, to reduce system inefficiencies and insert elements of best practice;
iv. Establishing a bill discount scheme for those living closest to new electricity transmission infrastructure; and
v. Updating a process for offshore electricity transmission, by extending the generator commissioning clause period.
c. to “Streamline and improve the efficiency of delivering” transport infrastructure projects, including:
i. Changing the process of street works approval in order to accelerate the installation of electric vehicle public charge points;
ii. Various reforms to the Transport and Works Act 1992 and Highways Act 1980 to streamline processes and accelerate delivery of projects;
iii. Improving cost recovery for Harbour Revision Orders.
d. Introduce a more strategic approach to nature recovery in relation to development, enabling developers to fund restoration more efficiently through a new “Nature Restoration Fund”, whilst securing improved outcomes for the environment;
e. “Improve certainty and decision-making in the planning system”, including
- through introducing a new scheme of delegation “to modernise local planning committees”, and training of committee members;
- increasing the capacity of local planning authorities (LPAs) by enabling the cost recovery of planning fees;
f. Unlock land and secure public value for large-scale investment through reforms to the compulsory purchase order process and compensation rules;
g. Strengthen development corporation powers for infrastructure delivery, including transport, and clarify and update development corporation remits and objectives; and
h. Provide for the introduction of a strategic planning system for England.
17. The Bill has just had its Second Reading in the Commons, and we can anticipate that some further amendments will be made. For now, it indicates a clear direction of travel to simplify decision making.
[1] The NPPF and Ebenezer Howard’s inconvenient legacy (TCPA blog, 25 Feb 2025, Hugh Ellis)
William Upton KC
6 Pump Court
Temple, London
EC4Y 7AR
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025: (extract from the Explanatory Memorandum)
Structure of the Bill
Part 1: Infrastructure
This Part provides for infrastructure reforms in the following areas:
• _Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), including: reforms to National Policy Statements (NPSs); applications for development consent; and reforms to legal challenges.
• _Electricity infrastructure, including: reforms to connections to the electricity network; consents for electricity infrastructure in Scotland; long duration electricity storage; benefits for homes near benefits for homes near new or significantly upgraded electricity transmission projects; electricity transmission systems: extension of commissioning period; and electricity generation on forestry land.
• _Transport infrastructure, including: amendments to the Highways Act 1980; amendments to the Transport and Works Act 1992; Harbour orders fee charging; and Electric Vehicle charge points.
Part 2: Planning
This Part provides for reforms to the planning system in the following areas:
• _Planning decisions, including: fees for planning applications; training for local planning authorities; and delegation of planning decisions.
• _Strategic planning and spatial development strategies.
Part 3: Nature Recovery
This Part defines a new strategic approach to nature recovery in relation to development, including provisions on:
• _Environmental Delivery Plans.
• _Nature Restoration Fund.
• _Natural England powers and duties.
Part 4: Development Corporations
This Part concerns the delivery of reforms to Development Corporations, including:
• _Areas for development and remit.
• _Duties to have regard to sustainable development and climate change.
• _Powers in relation to infrastructure.
• _Exercise of transport functions.
Part 5: Compulsory Purchase Order
This Part provides for reforms to the compulsory purchase process and compensation rules, including:
• _Delegating more decisions to inspectors and allowing authorities to take earlier possession of land.
• _Allowing the electronic service of notices and simplifying content of newspaper notices.
• _Amendments relating to section 14A of the Land Compensation Act 1961 and changes to the loss payments regime.
Part 6: Miscellaneous and General Provision
This Part provides for:
• _Reporting on extra-territorial environmental outcomes.
• _Overview of territorial extent.
• _Overview of commencement timings and transitional provision.
Schedules
Schedule 1 - Minor and consequential amendments to the Electricity Act 1989
Schedule 2 - Section 37: consequential amendments
Schedule 3 - Section 47: minor and consequential amendments
Schedule 4 - Environmental delivery plans: effect on environmental obligations
Schedule 5 - Compulsory acquisition of land under Part 3: supplementary provisions
Schedule 6 - Amendments relating to Part 3 (DEVELOPMENT AND NATURE RECOVERY)
Part 1 - Ramsar sites: amendments to the Habitats Regulations 2017
Part 2 - Minor and consequential amendments related to Part 3