The Planning & Infrastructure Bill, introduced to parliament today, includes measures designed to speed up planning decisions and boost housebuilding by removing avenues for legal challenges.

The Bill comes with wider planning reforms including a new national planning policy framework.

People living near new electricity transmission infrastructure will also receive up to £250 a year off their energy bills for 10 ten years in a bid to reduce opposition to new pylons.

Deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, Angela Rayner said: “We’re creating the biggest building boom in a generation – as a major step forward in getting Britain building again and unleashing economic growth in every corner of the country, by lifting the bureaucratic burden which has been holding back developments for too long.

“The Planning & Infrastructure Bill will unleash seismic reforms to help builders get shovels in the ground quicker to build more homes, and the vital infrastructure we need to improve transport links and make Britain a clean energy superpower to protect billpayers.

“It will help us to deliver the 1.5 million homes we have committed to so we can tackle the housing crisis we have inherited head on – not only for people desperate to buy a home, but for the families and young children stuck in temporary accommodation and in need of a safe, secure roof over their heads.

“These reforms are at the heart of our Plan for Change, ensuring we are backing the builders, taking on the blockers, and delivering the homes and infrastructure this country so badly needs.”

 KEY MEASURES

Planning committees: Housebuilding will be backed by streamlining planning decisions through the introduction of a national scheme of delegation that will set out which types of applications should be determined by officers and which should go to committee, controls over the size of planning committees to stop them becoming unwieldy, and mandatory training for planning committee members. Councils will also be allowed to set their own planning fees to cover their costs.

Nature restoration fund: A nature restoration fund will be established to enable builders to meet their environmental obligations in a different place to the area that they are actually despoiling.  A payment to the nature restoration fund will offset environmental damage and allowing building to proceed.

Compulsory purchase reform: Reforms to the compulsory purchase process will reduce the compensation paid to landowners by eliminating ‘hope value’ – the value attributed to the prospect of planning permission being granted for alternative development.

Development corporations: Development corporations will be set up with new powers to develop new towns.

Strategic planning: The Bill will introduce a system of ‘strategic planning’ across England known as spatial development strategies, designed to help to boost growth by looking across multiple local planning authorities for the most sustainable areas to build and ensuring infrastructure requirements are considered. These plans will be produced by regional mayors, or by local authorities in some cases.

National significant infrastructure projects (NSIP): The Bill will make changes to the development consent order process for NSIPs, simplifying  the consultation requirements for projects and reducing opportunities for law suits to be brought be project opponents. What are judged in the first court hearing to be ‘meritless’ cases will only have one – rather than three – attempts at legal challenge. There will be no right to appeal. Other changes will be made to the Highways Act and the Transport & Works Act to reduce bureaucracy so transport projects can progress through planning more quickly.

Energy:  Some wind and solar power projects currently face waits of more than 10 years to be connected to the grid. A ‘first ready, first connected’ system will replace the existing ‘first come, first served’ approach to the grid queue.

Bill discounts: People living within 500 metres of new pylons across Great Britain will get money off their electricity bills up to £250 a year for 10 years. Alongside money off bills, separate new guidance will set out how developers should ensure communities hosting transmission infrastructure can benefit, by funding projects like sports clubs, educational programmes or leisure facilities. According to the government, its proposals mean that an upcoming project like SSEN Transmission’s power line between Tealing and Aberdeenshire could see local communities benefitting from funding worth more than £23m for local amenities.

INDUSTRY REACTION

Institution of Civil Engineers director general Janet Young said: "The proposed changes to accelerate the delivery of nationally significant infrastructure projects and to improve strategic planning outlined in the government’s Planning & Infrastructure Bill are positive signs.

"Investors, the supply chain, and the public need certainty that projects will be delivered in good time to commit the investment that the UK needs to improve its infrastructure, spark economic growth, and meet its climate ambitions.

"The government’s ambitions must prioritise a joined-up approach to ensure success. Getting the fundamentals of planning and delivery right is critical, and part of that is balancing community needs and environmental responsibilities with delivering the infrastructure we need to achieve the UK's goals.

"The proposals to use spatial development strategies to identify the most sustainable places to build and prioritise grid connections demonstrate that the government sees investing in infrastructure not only as key to accelerating growth, but to increasing energy security, and progressing the renewable energy transition, which is vital to build a more sustainable future."

National Federation of Builders chief executive Richard Beresford said: “For 10 years, we have campaigned for reform to the statutory consultee process, and it is fantastic news that the government has finally accepted the recommendations of NFB members seriously.”

Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the NFB, added: “We should not underestimate the significance of reforming the statutory consultee process to help projects get off the ground faster. Some consultees take months to respond and years to settle agreements, causing projects costs to spiral while planners get unfairly blamed for delays beyond their control.

“Statutory consultees should be subject to deemed discharge. This means if they fail to respond with twenty-one days, their challenge is forfeited. Unlike the current flawed deemed discharge system on planning conditions, exemptions should be extremely limited.”

Richard Whitehead, Aecom chief executive (Europe and India, said: “It’s plain to see that the pace of development in the UK, particularly housing, isn’t meeting the needs of the nation and has been a major inhibitor of growth in recent decades.

“The government should be commended for its leadership in attempting to reform a broken system, but the new Bill cannot be taken in isolation if it is to deliver the upgrade to infrastructure the country has long needed.

“With the reforms clearing the way for the government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy to take root, it’s our hope that the new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority will be provided with the teeth to improve confidence in planning and catalyse private investment to ensure the strategy is realised.

“Capacity challenges within local planning teams remain a significant risk to this, however. As such, it’s imperative that a complementary skills strategy is devised that develops the next generation of planners, as well as the significant increase in skilled construction workers that we need to get Britain building again.”

Trevor Ivory, planning partner at DLA Piper, said:  "I'm glad to see the government has resisted overhauling the rulebook in the Planning & Infrastructure Bill and will deliver what the industry has been calling for. This is a collection of sensible, targeted measures that could help delivery without the delay that comes from wholesale reform of the system. Strengthening of development corporations to enable the public sector to lead on a new generation of new towns offers real potential, especially when combined with changes to the calculation of compensation for land acquired compulsorily.  A nature restoration fund could also be a pragmatic solution to ensuring development delivers environmental benefits without overburdening individual projects."

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