Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025
UK law reforming legislation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom significantly changing planning law in the United Kingdom.
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lords)
- England and Wales
- Scotland (in part)
- Northern Ireland (in part)
The act makes substantial amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The act allows the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to require local authorities to delegate planning functions to planning officers rather than councillors, makes Compulsory Purchase by public bodies easier, establishes a Nature Restoration Fund, and removes requirements for public consultation before applications for 'nationally significant infrastructure projects' are submitted.
Provisions
For 'nationally significant infrastructure projects', the legislation removes the requirement to "consult statutory consultees, landowners, local authorities and the community before submitting their application".[1]
The legislation reduces the number of available legal challenges to planning decisions from three to at most two.[2]
The legislation moves more decisions away from councillors and towards council officers by allowing the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to make regulations requiring local authorities to delegate planning functions to planning officers (not consisting of councillors, unlike planning committees).[3][1] It also requires all those making planning decisions to attend regulated training.[1]
The act establishes the Nature Restoration Fund managed by Natural England.[4] The legislation allows developers to contribute to the fund as part of meeting their environmental obligations.[5]
The act makes it easier for local and central government bodies to make Compulsory Purchase orders, and reduces associated compensatory loss payments.[1]
Implementation
On the 1 June 2026 the Government published its statutory guidance on 'Planning Committees and the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions' following public consultation. The implementation of the delegation scheme was delayed to the 31 October 2026, with a review by October 2028.[6][7]
From 31 October the statutory guidance states that if local authorities "do not comply with the regulations from the date they come into force (31 October 2026) and their planning committees make decisions on applications which must be delegated to officers, those decisions may be subject to judicial review by anyone aggrieved by the decision".[8]
In February 2026, the government consulted on areas for strategic planning authorities, that will each produce a 'spatial development strategy'.[9]
Reception
The legislation had qualified support from the London Councils, and the County Councils Network local authority groups. London Councils said they were "supportive of reforms to speed up the delivery of the homes and jobs Londoners need" including decision delegation,[10] while the County Councils Network said they "support the aims of the Bill to speed up infrastructure delivery, improve the planning process and make it easier for development to be delivered through reforms to development corporations and compulsory purchase" while opposing the bill's "national scheme of delegation that will ultimately remove decision-making powers from councillors."[11]
The legislation was described by Wildlife Trusts as a "trojan horse", describing it as giving developers "cash to trash" green spaces and a "licence to destroy" nature.[12]
The Office for Environmental Protection criticised certain parts as weakening environmental protections, but supported most of the bill.[13][14]
Froglife criticized the bill for reducing environmental protections and continuing habitat loss in the UK.[15]
The legislation was supported by the Nuclear Industry Association[16], Energy UK[17], and the CBI. The CBI said that the bill "represents progress in reforming the planning system and moves the dial on delivering critical national infrastructure".[18]
Age UK said the legislation "presents an opportunity to help rectify the shortage of housing suitable for an ageing population."[19]