The Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, first announced in the King’s speech in July 2024, was introduced into Parliament on 11 March 2025 for its first reading in the House of Commons. The Bill is part of wider planning reforms taking place this year, which were covered in our colleague Matthew Tucker’s blog on changes to expect during 2025.

The provisions in the Bill will apply in England and Wales with some provisions also having effect in Scotland. The main focus is to “speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure, supporting delivery of the government’s Plan for Change milestones of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects by the end of this Parliament”[1].

The Bill also seeks to materialise the governments’ Clean Power target ensuring that clean energy projects are built as quickly as possible. The Government published a Guide to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the same day which sets out the purpose of the Bill and a brief explanation of its contents. 

The Bill is divided into 6 Parts dedicated to the following topics:

1. Infrastructure (covering nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), Electricity Infrastructure and Transport Infrastructure);
2. Planning;
3. Spatial development strategies; 
4. Development and nature recovery;
5. Compulsory Purchase; and 
6. Miscellaneous and General Provisions.

In this article, we explore the main proposals proposed by the Bill and their practical impact on CPO and the housing sector, NSIPs and the renewable energy sector and other key changes in relation to nature recovery funds, delegation and national policy statements

CPO and the housing sector

Decision-making

Although set out within Part 2 which deals with Planning, the Bill proposes that decisions in relation to housing developments could be delegated to inspectors, councils or mayors instead of the Secretary of State where there are no objections to a proposed CPO with the aim of speeding up the CPO process. 

In addition to this, Part 4 of the Bill provides that development corporations, statutory bodies which were utilised in the post-war era, will operate under a clearer, more flexible and robust framework to support development and regeneration.  Development corporations can be used to deliver new towns or regeneration schemes but currently have more limited powers. The reform proposed by the Bill proposes to expand the scope of the powers available to development corporations to cover urban extensions and development of brownfield and greenfield land, ensuring that powers are available to them for support the delivery of large-scale developments. 

Compensation

Under Part 5, the Bill proposes that compensation paid to landowners is not excessive, and that hope value can be removed where it is justified in the public interest. This reform seeks to ensure the affordability of regeneration schemes.

NSIPs and particularly the renewable energy sector

NSIP process

The Bill proposes significant measures to speed up planning decisions and remove unnecessary blocks and challenges to windfarms and other projects such as rail and road. It seeks to speed up the NSIP regime by streamlining consultation requirements for projects. The Bill proposes that the Secretary of State may take into account any non-statutory consultation or publicity carried out by the applicant in connection with the development. The Explanatory Memorandum explains that the requirements around statutory consultation had resulted in disproportionately lengthy consultations, and the Bill will allow the Planning Inspectorate to take a more proportionate approach in determining whether to accept an application for examination and enable minor changes to the application in advance of a decision if necessary to make it acceptable.

In a similar fashion, bureaucracy will be removed, where possible, from transport projects by amending the Highways Act and Transport and Works Act. By way of example, the Bill proposes to streamline the approval of street works needed for installing EV charging points and remove the need for licenses.

Part 1 of the Bill states that legal blocks to major infrastructure projects will be reduced by the new requirement that meritless cases will only have one attempt at legal challenge, rather than the current standing of three (these being permission stage, an option to renew to an oral permission and, if unsuccessful, a right to appeal to the Court of Appeal). This follows on from the recommendations from Lord Banner in December 2024 who suggested that claimants should have ‘fewer bites of the cherry’.

National Policy Statements

The first Part of the Bill also deals with the provision that National Policy Statements, against which NSIP applications are assessed under the Planning Act 2008. The Bill provides that these will be updated at least every five years, rather than whenever the Secretary of State sees fit. This aims to provide certainty about the Government’s priorities. 

Consenting route

A significant change is that the Bill proposes to give the Secretary of State the power to issue a direction disapplying the requirement for development consent for specified development, meaning that the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 regime could be used as an alternative consenting route. This seeks to allow a more proportionate approach ensuring that the NSIP regime is reserved for larger and more complex projects. 

Electricity Network Connections

The Bill introduces the legislative basis for the proposed grid connections reform. The underlining aim is to make the process more efficient and aligned with the government proposals and targets and ensure that the reforms that are already underway by Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO) materialise and maximise their benefits.

If enacted, the Bill will establish a legal framework which will shift from the “first come, first served” approach currently in place for managing connection requests. Time limited powers will be given to the Secretary of State and Ofgem to prioritise connections for 3 years from Royal Assent of the Bill, enabling them to directly amend electricity licences.

The Secretary of State and Ofgem can further direct NESO and the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) to make necessary changes accordingly. NESO and DNOs will be required to prioritise projects for connection based on strategic and system plans (e.g. the proposed Clean Power 2030 Action Plan), including applying technological and locational criteria.

Electricity Storage and Generation

The Bill proposes amendments to the Electricity Act 1989 by introducing a new scheme for “Long Duration Electricity Storage” for renewable power. This seeks to enable infrastructure that can store electricity and then discharge continuously at 8 hours or longer at full power ensuring that there are systems in place to support the storage of clean wind and solar power when is plentiful and use it when its most needed. These amendments aim to address the barriers to clean power projects and seek to align current legislation with the Clean Power 2030 target.

Other key changes – planning fees, strategic planning, and delegation 

Planning Fees

Councils will be able to set their own planning fees in order to cover their costs and any additional money raised will be reinvested back into the planning system. 

Strategic planning and delegation

As initially put forward in the English Devolution White Paper, the Bill introduces a system of strategic planning across England, grouping neighbouring authorities to provide cross-boundary spatial development strategies. This will ensure a clear join-up between development needs and infrastructure requirements, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in their press release on the 11 March 2025.

As hinted by the King’s Speech back in 2024, the Bill introduces a national scheme which will delegate certain applications to officers and others to planning committees, as well as controlling the size of planning committees with the aim of ensuring good debate. At the same time mandatory training for planning committee members will be required. 

Nature Restoration Fund

The Bill creates a strategic approach to nature recovery by establishing a Nature Restoration Fund, which was proposed in the Planning Reform Working Paper, allowing developers to pool contributions into a centralised fund used for larger environmental interventions by government bodies (such as Natural England). This is intended to reduce the time and costs associated with complying with individual environmental obligations by allowing developers to make a one-off payment rather than identifying specific site-by-site mitigation through assessment. Building will be able to proceed whilst wider action is taken on the environmental side. 

Transitional provisions 

There are 4 different transitional dates which we will be tracking as the Bill progresses: 

1. The date the Act is passed;
2. Such day as the Secretary of State may appoint;
3. 2 months from that date; and 
4. 6 months from that date.

What next?

We will continue to track the Bill as it progresses through Parliament and provide updates. If you have any queries about how the changes might impact you, please contact Alex Minhinick, partner, Jen Ashwell, director, or Leticia Mandra, senior associate, in our Planning & Compulsory Purchase team.

[1] Guide to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill - GOV.UK