The government's flagship Planning and Infrastructure Act has become law, with the Labour party promising "seismic planning reforms" that will remove blockages and delays to accelerate the construction of tens of thousands of homes.
The legislation is fundamental to this government's pledge that it will build 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament and kickstart economic growth via investment in infrastructure and real estate development.
The government promises it will also get dozens of new roads, railway lines, windfarms and key critical infrastructure built more quickly. New powers in the Act also allow reservoirs to be built faster, enable a new scheme to cut energy bills for people living near pylons by up to £2,500, and support clean power projects being prioritised for grid connections to improve Britain’s energy security.
The government said ministers will set out when the remaining reforms in the legislation will come into effect in the coming weeks.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed, who described it as a "build baby build" law at Labour conference earlier in the year, said in a statement: “Britain’s growth has been held back by a sluggish planning system, slamming the brakes on building and standing in the way of fixing the housing crisis for good.
“Today that changes. Our landmark Planning and Infrastructure Act will tear down barriers to growth, and this means getting spades in the ground faster, unshackling projects stuck in planning limbo and crucially unlocking a win-win for the environment and the economy. We’re ushering in a new era to build 1.5 million homes that will give families a secure roof over their head, alongside key infrastructure to create high-paying jobs and power our homes and businesses. That’s exactly the Britain I want to see so it’s time to get on with the job and build baby build.”
Key changes in the Act include:
- A Nature Restoration Fund seeks to help developers to develop multiple housing and infrastructure projects more quickly, with Natural England putting in place pro-nature measures at scale to restore natural habitats and wildlife.
- Limiting the number of attempts at legal challenge against government decisions on major infrastructure projects, with only one attempt rather than three for cases deemed by the court as totally without merit.
- Modernising planning committees to focus on the most significant developments rather than smaller projects, speeding up local decisions on new homes.
- Extra powers for development corporations to speed up delivery of large-scale projects, including the new towns, with more affordable homes and public transport.
- Simplifying the approval process for new EV chargers on public roads
- Enabling electricity bill discounts of up to £2,500 over 10 years for communities hosting new pylons and transmission infrastructure.
- Making it easier to acquire land for new homes, GP surgeries, and schools.
The government has also published an implementation plan setting out how the Nature Restoration Fund will work in practice and the timelines for the first Environmental Delivery Plans. The plan confirms the government will make cleaning up rivers by removing pollution at source a priority, along with streamlining processes for developers. The government says an overhaul of the pre-application period for major development will speed up infrastructure projects by 12 months on average. An overview of the measures contained within the Planning and Infrastructure Act can be found here.
New powers that come into force today include:
- Enabling non-water sector companies to build reservoirs that are automatically considered as nationally significant infrastructure project to speed up the approvals for large reservoirs.
- Creating new regulations that would allow councils to set their own planning fees so they can cover their costs when deciding upon applications for new homes and infrastructure.
- Introducing a system of strategic planning (known as spatial development strategies) that will look across multiple local planning authorities for the most sustainable areas to build and ensure new infrastructure is also being planned for to support the delivery of new housing.
- Giving new powers to the Secretary of State to create a financial benefit scheme to provide discounts on electricity bills for people living within 500 metres of new pylons.
- Replacing the ‘first come, first served’ process to a ‘first ready, first connected’ system to prioritise the right clean power projects for quicker connections to the grid.
- Integrating new projects that generate electricity from renewable sources into the Public Forest Estate and exporting power from these projects to the National Grid.
Sam Bensted, assistant director, British Property Federation, said today's announcement was welcome and should pave the way for more strategic planning and streamlined decision making at the local level.“It is crucial that more homes are delivered and at pace to meet housing need. Greater certainty in the local planning process, and the greater delegation of planning decisions to planning officers, should go some way to achieving this. A lot of the detail that will come forward through the emerging Spatial Development Strategies is still to be worked up, and it is vital that these new strategic plans also effectively plan for employment uses to generate jobs alongside new homes. The larger than local approach must be applied to industrial and logistics space, which enables goods to move efficiently around the country, boosts employment and creates economically sustainable communities. The detail around the Environmental Delivery Plans and the new Nature Restoration Fund will be crucial. We want reassurance that the new approach will be delivered in a way that genuinely protects and restores nature in tandem with speeding up the development process.”
Chair of Berkeley Group Rob Perrins said: “This is another step forward for the Government’s growth agenda and a clear signal that ministers are tackling the barriers to housing delivery. It is now vital that these measures – alongside the other positive planning changes announced over recent weeks – are implemented quickly to provide the certainty and confidence needed to unlock investment.”
Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, Kate Henderson, said: “Planning reform is an essential part of solving the housing crisis, and we’re confident that the measures within this Act will unblock delays in the system and enable housing associations to deliver at scale and pace. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the government to deliver on a decade of renewal for social housing.”
The Confederation of British Industry's chief policy and campaigns officer, John Foster, said: “Royal Assent for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is a major milestone in breaking the planning logjam that has held back growth for too long. Businesses have long called for a planning system that is faster, more predictable and strategic, and this legislation is a step forward in achieving that.
The real test will be swift and effective implementation, so firms can get spades in the ground, housing built, and critical infrastructure delivered. Government should continue to work at pace with industry to turn ambition into action.”
Victoria Du Croz, head of planning and partner at Forsters, said: “We will be watching closely in the New Year to see how effective the Environment Delivery Plans are and how quickly secondary legislation comes forward. The hope is that the Planning and Infrastructure Act will make a material difference to the planning process and enable schemes to progress to delivery more quickly, helping to create economic growth and crucially the new homes the country urgently needs.”