2025 Planning & Infrastructure Bill: Analysis and Highlights

In the most significant attempt to deliver on the government’s pledge to ‘get Britain building’ to date, the long-awaited Planning and Infrastructure Bill has been introduced to Parliament. Starmer’s ability to deliver on a string of key government targets – from achieving the highest growth in the G7 to building 1.5 million new homes and achieving a clean power grid by 2030 – rests on the package of measures being introduced via the Bill. This gives it particular prominence in the packed legislative agenda for this Parliament. In that context, Ministers and Government Whips will be hoping for rapid and smooth progress through both Chambers, with minimal delay or disruption from the backbenches.

The Bill makes clear the government’s intention to oversee a wholesale planning revolution, with sweeping reforms set to remove challenges to development. This builds on previous action already taken by MHCLG and DESNZ, including the introduction a new National Planning Policy Framework and consenting a series of large-scale energy infrastructure projects. And after a slew of negative press coverage on emerging tensions between HM Treasury and DESNZ over spending, the Bill provides a fresh opportunity for this government to demonstrate its commitment to new development as a catalyst for growth whilst also meeting its ambitious clean energy targets.

Key measures include plans to reward communities that host clean energy infrastructure with discounts on their energy bills, removing quango powers to block new developments, streamlining the NSIP process, introducing a Nature Restoration Fund, strengthening Development Corporations, and bringing forward new requirements for environmental regulators to speed up decisions. A national scheme of delegation will also be introduced to set out which types of applications should be determined by officers and which should go to committee – reducing political oversight but speeding up decision-making.

MPs will now join developers, environmental bodies and local authorities in poring over the detail of the legislation, with measures on environmental regulations already on course to be a key source of contention in the Commons. Some are concerned about protections being watered down, but a handful of Labour MPs are pressing Ministers to scrap environmental rules altogether. The Labour Growth Group – fronted by Chris Curtis MP – have already warned against ‘half measures’ on planning and called on Ministers to use the Bill to set aside EU-derived habitats regulation which present obstacles to growth.  

Generally, however, there is a real sense of excitement among Labour MPs around the transformational potential behind this Bill. We heard directly from Andrew Lewin, the MP for Welwyn Hatfield, that: "The publication of this bill is one of the most optimistic moments of our first eight months in power. The scale of the housing crisis means we need a radical response. The measures to strengthen CPO powers and end 'hope value' are especially welcome. It is landowners who have invariably been the biggest winners from the spiralling housing market and young families trying to get on the housing ladder who have been the biggest loses. It's time to fix what has become a broken market."

The question of planning has plagued successive UK Governments, and Angela Rayner will be hoping that today’s legislation will unlock a new era of growth by introducing reform at scale. So far, industry has been encouraged by the government’s rhetoric and its action to kick start much needed transformation to the planning system. Yet decades of piecemeal tweaks rather than full scale reform have bred cynicism among developers and planning professionals, so the devil will be in the detail and the implementation of this landmark legislation.