Savills responds to the publication of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025
Following the consultation on several topical working papers, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (“the Bill”) has been brought to Parliament. Published on Tuesday (11 March 2025), and with its second reading initially set for 12 March, there is a clear impetus from the government to implement the measures quickly.
The intention of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is that it will speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure, supporting the delivery of the government’s ‘Plan for Change’ of building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects. It is also intended to support delivery of the government’s ‘Clean Power 2030 Action Plan’ target by ensuring clean energy projects are built as quickly as possible.
In summary, the government said that changes to the NPPF (announced in December 2024) were only the first step in a more radical set of changes to the Planning regime in England and, true to their word, the Bill has now been published and contains some potentially welcome changes, whilst the overall message is the continued commitment to growth and how best it can be accelerated. The problem of under-resourced local planning teams remains and, beyond that, the challenge of getting projects delivered.
The detail is awaited and will be progressed via secondary legislation and policy, that will address the following topics:
Major Infrastructure Proposals (NSIPs)
The Planning Act 2008 established a policy framework for major infrastructure projects through the creation of National Policy Statements (NPSs). The Bill gives effect to the proposals in the Government’s 2025 working paper on streamlining consent for major infrastructure projects.
As set out in that paper, the measures seek to improve and streamline the planning processes for critical infrastructure. Updates to NPSs will be required at least every five years to reflect current context, amending aspects of pre-application consultation and acceptance stages for Development Consent Orders (DCO). Also announced are provisions to enable projects to use alternative consenting routes (e.g. the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) if appropriate and streamlining the judicial review process, to remove the right to appeal for cases deemed totally without merit at the oral permission hearing and enabling Examining Authorities to award costs.
Commenting on these changes, Rob Asquith, head of national infrastructure planning at Savills, says: “Streamlining consultation will reduce complexity and cost, arguably without unduly negative outcomes, while updating National Policy Statements (NPS) will provide better clarity.
“The government’s focus is on growth and while it obviously cannot speed things up overnight, this Bill is part of its approach to doing so. Achieving the acceleration in infrastructure and housing delivery it wishes is a longer-term objective and the challenges of climate change, planning, infrastructure and other domestic issues do not go away. The positives in this Bill and other measures the government proposes – and more still – are greatly needed to solve some of the inefficiencies at the heart of planning.”
Planning decisions
As set out in earlier working papers, a national scheme of delegation is introduced in the Bill which restricts the type of decisions that are made at committee level. Small-scale planning applications and those that align with local plans will be delegated to planning officers. The Bill also sets out that the size of committee will be controlled, aiming to streamline decision making and increase accountability, which is generally welcomed given local plan policies already go through extensive consultation.
In addition, there will be mandatory training for planning committee members in order for them to make decisions, which is also extended to mayors, aiming to ensure the government direction is considered in decision making.
In an attempt to address the resource gap in planning, local authorities will also be able to set their own fees – with the money reinvested back into the planning system. These fees should reflect cost recovery of planning application decision making, and the secretary of state will be given the power to intervene if fees are not deemed appropriate.
Referencing the difficult financial position of many local authorities, the Bill sets out that fee income should not cross-subsidise other services so, while it is welcome that investment should be made into the planning service, it will not necessarily be a quick solution given recruitment challenges.
Strategic planning
To drive growth on a ‘larger than local’ level, the Bill reintroduces spatial planning at a strategic scale – which will be defined by the areas of the proposed strategic planning authorities. This is likely to be welcomed by the industry, provided the new plans are produced to address strategic infrastructure challenges.
The Bill places a duty on combined authorities, combined county authorities, upper tier county councils and unitary authorities (with and without a mayor) to produce a spatial development strategy (SDS). The scope is intended to be strategic, preserving the role of the Local Plan, including not being able to allocate specific sites.
An SDS will cover local nature recovery strategies, strategic infrastructure and housing distribution, albeit there is still limited information as to the exact content of SDSs. However, they must not contradict (the still awaited) National Development Management Policies. Currently, it is unclear how Local Plan production should progress in the interim when it is known an SDS is the route forward, especially in the context of current plan making timescales, where it could be over five years before these come into effect.
Nature recovery
A Nature Restoration Fund will be launched with the purpose of pooling contributions to fund strategic environmental interventions. The intention is to fund nature recovery more efficiently whilst improving outcomes for the environment.
The Bill introduces Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs), which will be prepared by Natural England to provide a structured approach to biodiversity planning. The measures will be funded by a ‘nature restoration levy’ that is paid for by developers. Payment of the levy is proposed to result in the environmental impact of development on the relevant environmental feature being disregarded for the purposes of obligations under the Habitats Regulations 2017 or Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended).
The industry is likely to prefer the quick establishment of levy rates which, for example, addresses the delays created by nutrient neutrality. Development would be required to make a levy payment as set out in an EDP towards conservation measures which would address nutrient levels in water, therefore overcoming requirements from appropriate assessment in the Habitats Regulations.
Furthermore, regarding protected species, payment of a levy in an EDP related to such a species will result in a developer being treated as having being granted a licence under the Habitat Regulations, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
Coordination between Natural England and responsible authorities in setting the levy rates will be crucial when preparing EDPs to ensure consistency and avoid duplication. The Bill also proposes to provide Natural England with Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers to acquire land for conservation purposes.
Development corporations
Development corporations already have the ability to secure regeneration or deliver a new town. As a delivery vehicle they can be effective in driving forward development, but the Bill does not propose to change the planning powers Development Corporations can access (there are limited changes to land assembly in relation to new towns, infrastructure planning and transport functions) and therefore it remains to be seen whether further changes to delivery mechanisms come forward at a later stage.
The Bill is also silent in regards to preferred locations for development corporations and, as a result, there remains a question on the detail, for example, where the deputy prime minister references sustainable locations in proximity to train stations.
Compulsory Purchase Order
The Bill looks to improve the CPO process and land compensation rules which it says is to enable more effective land assembly through public sector-led schemes. This includes allowing statutory notices to be delivered electronically, simplifying information required to be included in newspaper notices, more delegation of decisions, quicker vesting of land/properties, and changes to the loss payments regime. A more streamlined and efficient process will also enable authorities to make greater use of their compulsory purchase powers, with associated cost savings realised through faster acquisition decisions.
The Bill also extends an existing power to remove value attributed to the prospect of planning permissions (“hope value”) by direction under section 15A of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 (“the 1981 Act”) to town/parish and community councils where they are using CPO powers to facilitate affordable or social housing provision. It will also be achieved by ensuring directions removing hope value apply to assessment of all open market value where it forms part of a compensation claim.
Energy Infrastructure
The Bill includes measures to prioritise grid connections for clean energy projects to help achieve clean power by 2030, including wind and solar power. A ‘first ready, first connected’ system will be introduced.
Developers will be required to provide community benefits, such as funding for local sports clubs, educational programmes and leisure facilities. A new funding mechanism will see communities receive £200,000 per kilometre of overhead electricity cable and £530,000 per substation, with some projects expected to provide tens of millions of pounds in local investment.
Further reforms will allow forestry authorities in England and Wales, including the Forestry Commission, to develop renewable energy projects on publicly managed land and sell the electricity generated.
Additionally, residents living within 500 meters of new electricity pylons will receive up to £2,500 off their energy bills over ten years.
The Bill also includes measures to streamline the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
Statutory consultees
The Bill followed a Written Ministerial Statement, published on 10 March 2025, on Statutory consultees which foreshadows a consultation on reducing the number of statutory consultees (including Sport England, the Gardens Trust and the Theatres Trust) and amending the scope and timeframe in which statutory consultees can comment.
This Statement also sets expectations for local planning authorities limiting consultation of statutory consultees and that decisions should not be delayed while awaiting a response. As this is now part of national policy, this takes immediate effect and could streamline decision making in the short term.