Growth drives major infrastructure and housing planning reform proposals

Those measures have been set out in a planning reform working paper and were published alongside separate confirmation from the government that it intends to make it easier to develop “untapped land near commuter transport hubs” for housing and streamline environmental assessment requirements arising in the context of development. The government also provided new insights into the likely contents of its 10-year national infrastructure strategy, which is expected to be published in full in June.

The proposals in the new planning reform working paper, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on Sunday, concern the consenting regime for ‘nationally significant infrastructure projects’ (NSIPs) – projects that meet certain thresholds defined in the Planning Act 2008, with different thresholds applicable to different types of infrastructure. Those proposals include plans to facilitate an ‘opt out’ from the NSIP process where appropriate, such as where the cost of going through the process is disproportionate to the project’s value, and to reduce consultation requirements arising before applications for consent can be submitted.

On housing, the government said it will “ensure that when developers submit an application for acceptable types of schemes in key areas – such as in high potential locations near commuter transport hubs - that the default answer to development is ‘yes’”, adding that this will “unlock more housing at a greater density in areas central to local communities”.

On environmental impact assessments, the government indicated that plans conceived under the previous UK government, which would see the existing framework of strategic environmental assessments and environmental impact assessments superseded by a new ‘environmental outcome reporting’ (EOR) regime for project development in England, will be taken forward under its watch. A roadmap for the delivery of the new EOR regime will be set out “in the coming months”, it said.

In relation to its national infrastructure strategy, the government confirmed that enabling resilient growth, delivering on its clean energy superpower mission, and ensuring social infrastructure can support public services, will be the three central objectives of its strategy. Among other things, it said that by setting out its infrastructure plans over 10 years, it hopes to give businesses enough confidence to invest in a pipeline of projects and skills.

Planning law experts Robbie Owen and Iain Gilbey of Pinsent Masons said the proposals form part of a broader package of measures designed to help deliver economic growth in the UK – a central and stated mission of the government.

Owen said: “Streamlining the consenting process for nationally significant infrastructure projects is a central plank of the government’s planning regime reforms, which it is widely acknowledged are essential to enable development and, in turn, promote growth. The new working paper is the latest in a series the government has published in which the likely contents of its Planning and Infrastructure Bill have been trailed, with the December 2024 working paper on development and nature recovery a further example.”

“This latest paper comes after the government last week confirmed that it will take forward recommended reforms to the judicial review process to make it harder for campaigners to disrupt the development of major infrastructure projects in the UK, as well as other planning reforms via the National Planning Policy Framework late last year. It also comes amidst a raft of wider initiatives the government is pursuing to promote growth – from its endorsement of the recent AI opportunities action, to its hardening of its commitment to ensuring UK regulators operate in accordance with their statutory growth duty, as well as its plans to secure bigger investment in UK companies, infrastructure and private equity from people’s pension pots – and ahead of a highly-anticipated speech on growth by chancellor Rachel Reeves this week,” he said.

Gilbey said: “National policy in the NPPF already directs development to sustainable locations, well located for public transport, so it will be interesting to see how far the government intends to reinforce its ‘default answer’ approach to housing development in such locations.”

“One strategy would be to accelerate the take up of Local Development Orders (LDOs), which can provide permitted development rights for specified types of development, like housing, in defined locations, such as near railway stations. There has been limited take up of LDOs to date, as they can be perceived by local authorities as eroding their discretionary decision-making powers. However, if the government is serious about really speeding up decision-making, then they could be a powerful tool, in supporting the drive for growth,” he said.

Late last year, the government set out its aim of issuing 150 major economic infrastructure decisions by the end of the current parliament in 2029. In its latest planning reform working paper, it said reforms are needed to the development consent order (DCO) regime for it to achieve that objective.

Developers behind NSIPs require a DCO to proceed with their projects. The DCO process is separate to other consenting regimes where decision-making powers rest with local planning authorities – DCOs are issued by government ministers, but applications are subject to strict procedural requirements before decisions are taken, including in relation to consultation with statutorily-designated agencies and stakeholders, as well as evaluation by one or more planning inspectors.

Among the new proposals, government ministers would obtain new powers to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether projects that meet the thresholds for determination under the DCO process, should nevertheless be subject to an alternative consenting framework – like the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which applies in England. Those proposals envisage developers applying to ministers to ‘opt out’ of the DCO regime.

The government said the ability to secure an opt out could address the current problem where some developers decide to set the size of a project below-threshold just so that they can apply for consent under other consenting regimes, because they consider the process to secure a DCO is disproportionate to the cost and value of their project.

Further plans to adapt NSIP process requirements to better support “more straightforward” solar schemes, enable a cluster of NSIPs to be examined together as opposed to on an individual basis as is the case currently, and reduce burdens associated with “complex and lengthy linear projects, including some grid and transport schemes”, are also under consideration.

Proposals aimed at streamlining the consultation requirements that apply to NSIPs at the pre-application stage are also set out in the government’s paper. Included in those proposals are plans to curb content requirements in the consultation report that developers are required to send to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) to demonstrate their compliance with their pre-application consultation requirements, to reduce the length of those reports and cut the time they take to prepare.

A new duty is also envisaged, under which all parties – developers and statutory consultees – would be obliged to narrow down any areas of disagreement during the pre-application stage, to mitigate against the risk of substantive issues being unresolved later in the DCO process.

The measures, which would also include new powers for the government to issue statutory guidance across the consenting process, build on measures introduced under the previous government, which included the establishment of a pre-application service by PINS through which developers can obtain some planning advice on their projects to help them navigate their statutory pre-application requirements.

The government has also proposed to legislate to require national policy statements (NPSs) – the documents against which NSIP applications are assessed – to be updated by government at least every five years. There are currently 13 NPSs in place that relate to different types of infrastructure assets – from water to energy and roads, among other examples.

The government intends to take forward the proposals outlined in its paper as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is expected to be introduced into parliament in March.

Owen said: “Yesterday’s paper contains some very welcome and sensible proposals, some of which we have been urging for quite a while – particularly reform of NPSs, imposing duties on statutory consultees, and improving aspects of the DCO process – and it’s going to be really important to provide feedback to government quickly before the Bill is settled in March.”

“However, the acid test is whether this package of reforms will give businesses enough confidence to invest in a pipeline of projects – my instinct is that they will be wanting more certainty, including around judicial review of NPSs and judicial review of DCOs for projects of critical national importance. After all, government has said in the paper that it wants to prioritise the most critical economic infrastructure projects, where necessary,” he said.