With the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill that started in the middle of March, there are six changes that you should watch out for if you aren’t yet familiar with the new bill.
1. Planning Committees
The new Planning and Infrastructure Bill will establish planning committees to delegate planning applications between officers and committees. By distributing the planning applications between these two groups, responses to each application will be expedited. The objective is to reduce the size of committee groups to facilitate improved debates, and every member will undergo mandatory training to join the planning committee, ensuring the right knowledge and tools are available for decision-making. Councils will also have the authority to set their own planning fees, allowing them to cover costs and reinvest funds into the system, which is currently facing a £362 million deficit.
2. Nature Restoration Fund
A Nature Restoration Fund will be launched to support larger environmental interventions. This new initiative will also accelerate processes, allowing builders to contribute funds to waive environmental obligations on individual projects.
3. Strategic Planning
To create alignment between development needs and infrastructure requirements, strategic planning will be implemented. Councils or local planning authorities will devise strategies to identify suitable areas for construction.
4. National Significant Infrastructure Projects
To expedite infrastructure projects, consultation requirements will be streamlined. Infrastructure applications will be evaluated against national policies, which will be updated at least every five years to clarify government priorities. Additionally, challenging government decisions on major infrastructure projects will become more difficult, as the reforms will allow only one legal challenge for ‘meritless’ cases instead of three. Further amendments to the Highways Act and the Transport and Works Act will also reduce bureaucracy, enabling transport projects to progress more swiftly.
5. Development Corporations
Development corporations, initially established to create new towns after the war and manage large-scale developments beyond the private sector’s capacity, will be granted increased authority. Labour asserts that these enhanced powers will empower these development bodies to realize the vision for the next generation of new towns, facilitating the construction of 1.5 million homes alongside the necessary infrastructure for significant new developments.
6. Compulsory Purchase Reform
The compulsory purchase process allows land to be acquired for projects that serve the public good, such as when a council obtains land for affordable housing. This process will be streamlined to better serve public interests. Reforms will ensure that compensation for landowners is fair and will expedite the removal of ‘hope value’—the value attributed to the possibility of planning permission for alternative developments—when justified by public interest. In cases with no objections, decisions will be made by inspectors, councils, or mayors instead of the secretary of state.
