The government unveiled its Planning and Infrastructure Bill earlier this week, promising to shake-up the system and get the country building – but will it be enough? Tim Clark reports
In planning terms at least, the phoney war is over.
The tinkering around the edges, grand statements, and what seemed like endless words without action has given way to concrete plans for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, introduced to Parliament earlier this week.
The proposals contained within the Bill aim to accelerate the delivery of new homes as well as the critical infrastructure needed to support them by addressing inefficiencies in the planning system.
“After decades of inertia, we finally have a government willing to take decisive action on planning reform,” says John Gregory, partner and specialist planning lawyer at law firm, Weightmans.
“The new Planning and Infrastructure Bill signals a renewed focus on strategic planning, mandatory training for planning committees, local fee setting, and ringfencing fees for planning functions – sensible measures that could inject much-needed efficiency into a system long in need of modernisation.”
The key objectives include creating a faster and more predictable consenting process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) by streamlining consultation requirements, keeping National Policy Statements (NPSs) up to date, and limiting the scope of judicial reviews; the government hopes to remove barriers that have slowed infrastructure development.
The Bill also introduces a strategic approach to nature recovery, ensuring that environmental protections support, rather than hinder, development. A Nature Restoration Fund will promote sustainable housebuilding while fostering biodiversity gains beyond simple offsetting.
Sea change in planning
Decision-making in the planning system is targeted for improvement by balancing local oversight with efficiency. Planning committees will be reformed to prevent “unnecessary delays”, and increased planning fees will provide local authorities with greater resources.
Finally, the Bill will unlock land for development, ensuring fair but controlled compulsory purchase order (CPO) compensation, and empowering development corporations to deliver large-scale projects efficiently.
The new Bill, which will almost certainly become law due to Labour’s commanding parliamentary majority, proposes a sea change in how planning is managed, how much landowners may – or may not – be able to command for their land, and shift the dial in favour of building 1.5m homes over the course of this parliament.
“The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is an important step in the re-introduction of the strategic planning, says councillor Richard Clewer, housing and planning spokesperson for the County Councils Network (CCN).
“Strategic planning’s return is long overdue and if implemented effectively and correctly, strategic planning will help deliver more homes. It will allow areas to pinpoint the right homes in the right places and will enable councils and their partners to plan more effectively for infrastructure in order to make development sustainable.”
According to councillor Adam Hug, housing and planning spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA), the new Bill has included some of the LGA’s “long term asks”, such as making it easier for councils to purchase vacant land for house building, localising planning fees, and increasing planning capacity.
“These will speed up the planning process and ease the building of new homes and necessary infrastructure we need across the country,” he says.
“However, there remains concerns around how it will ensure that councils – who know their areas best and what they need – remain at the heart of the planning process. The democratic role of councillors in decision-making is the backbone of the English planning system, and this should not be diminished. Councils approve nine out of ten planning applications that come before them.”
Strategic planning
At its heart, the new Bill aims to reintroduce strategic planning, expedite housing delivery, and streamline infrastructure development.
The reintroduction of strategic planning is the biggest overhaul in the new Bill. It will allow local authorities – or new larger unitary authorities – to take what is known as a “big picture” approach to planning across a wider geographical area than currently. That alone allows for a more discerning way of deciding on whether schemes benefit a region – as many often do – rather than a single constituency per se.
“A strategic, joined-up approach to planning and infrastructure is essential to delivering the homes that communities need, and ensuring that development keeps pace with demand – particularly for the thousands of people struggling to access affordable housing,” says Rachel Williamson, interim director of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH).
Williamson’s thoughts are echoed by Richard Broadbent, environmental lawyer at Freeths, who notes that even if successfully passed through parliament, getting the reforms working will take a monumental effort – especially when it comes to the natural environment.
“The scale of the proposed changes to the law will be construed by many as a sledgehammer to crack a nut given that strategic nature restoration schemes are currently being successfully delivered across the country in accordance with existing legislation,” he says.
“Furthermore, the uncertainty caused by these changes may create further delays and increase costs.”
Another aspect of the Bill is the aim to reduce the number of statutory consultees who are included within the planning process.
“The announcement by the government about statutory consultees is consistent with its ‘build, build, build’ message, which has been a positive one for most in the property industry,” says Jason Lowes, planning partner at Rapley’s.
“As a generality, statutory consultees play a key role in the planning system, but the message we often get when they are involved is that they are under-resourced, and often struggle with the volume of applications that they are expected to deal with. Further, by their very nature, the bodies are focused on their own specialised subject and sometimes wider planning benefits can get lost.”
Lowes says that a more refined approach to when statutory consultees get involved in planning applications would be beneficial, in the interests of making the planning system more efficient, adding that it should free up bodies to focus on proposals which are most relevant to them.
“As ever, however, the proposals are just that, proposals – time will tell what the final position is – but in general terms the changes are to be welcomed,” he adds.
The new Bill will also change the current level of power, control and balance that councils have over their own areas. Clewer adds that bypassing local councillors is fraught with risk.
“We are concerned about efforts to dilute and bypass the role of councillors on planning committees, particularly in rural areas where significant developments could only constitute a few dozen homes,” he says. “By only allowing councillors to debate and discuss only the proposals that the government defines as a large development, this will erode local people’s voice within the planning system.”
The new Bill has been published in advance of chancellor Rachel Reeve’s spring statement as well as the long-expected spending review. This review will put into sharp focus the funding that local authorities should have to bring forth the reforms the government wants.
Free CPO?
At its core the new Bill aims to increase housebuilding, one of the mechanisms that the government hopes will speed the process is to make it easier for local authorities to use compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) for affordable housing development.
“Removing hope value from land means local councils, Homes England and other acquiring authorities will be able to purchase land more cheaply enabling them to deliver more affordable and social housing,” says Patrick Hickey, director of the development management consultancy, Make NW.
“More national guidance for Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) will also help speed up the process. CPOs in town and city centres can be complex and sometimes involve hundreds of property owners and take years. By removing inconsistencies and reducing subjective decision-making, these updates aim to minimise investment risks and create a more stable, predictable planning framework.”
Not everyone is a fan of the removal of hope value from the CPO process. The plans may also fall foul of the Human Rights Act, which designates for a person’s right to property.
Country Land and Business Association (CLA) deputy president, Gavin Lane says that the proposals are “not an answer” for delivering new homes.
“We urgently need more affordable housing, but pushing landowners into selling land isn’t the answer,” he says. “Compulsory purchase drags landowners through years of stress, disruption and compensation battles, harming individuals and communities alike.
“Instead of pushing landowners to bear the burden, why not work with them? Most want to see progress and could deliver development faster, cheaper and with more care. Hitting landowners isn’t the solution – fixing the planning system is.”
When it becomes law, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will certainly herald a sea change in the planning regime. Only after it is bedded in will we know if it has the impact that the Labour government wishes.
The perennial bugbear for housing professionals however is still funding, and an acknowledgement that planning reform alone will not deliver the mammoth quantities of new homes the government says the UK urgently needs.
“Planning reform alone is not enough,” Williamson adds. “To make these new powers effective and meet the government’s ambition of 1.5m new homes, the sector must be properly resourced and supported.”
Image credit: Wayne Harrison/Pixabay
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