Update on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

The final form of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is taking shape as it progresses through the final stages of amendment by Parliament.  Given the number of changes proposed to the Bill, my colleague Jonathan Catt, a solicitor in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase team, has summarised the key outcomes of the Parliamentary process below. 

Progress through Parliament

Since our last update on 15 October 2025: 

1. The Bill has progressed through the Report and Third Reading Stages in the House of Lords, and the Lords’ Amendments to the Bill were published on 10 November. The Lords’ Amendments omitted several of the amendments introduced earlier in the process which were not taken forward;
2. The Commons considered and agreed to a majority of the Lords’ amendments on 13 November. The amendments disagreed by the Commons, or agreed subject to modification, are set out in the ‘Commons Reasons, Agreement and Amendment, and Disagreement and Amendments in Lieu’, published on 17 November 2025;
3. The House of Lords considered the Commons’ Reasons on 24 November and insisted for the Commons to reconsider its refusal of one of the Lords’ Amendments to the Bill. The ‘Lords Insistence and Reason’ was published on 25 November;

4. The Commons are timetabled to consider the Lords’ Insistence and Reason on 8 December, before the Bill may then proceed to receive royal assent.

   The Bill is therefore in final form, except for the single matter to be reconsidered by the Commons on 8 December. 

Earlier amendments not taken forward 

The Lords’ amendments to the Bill omitted a number of amendments introduced earlier in the process, which we highlighted in our previous update. The following amendments are now not included in the Bill:

1. Allowing ministers to issue ‘holding directions’ to stop Councils refusing planning permission while they consider using their ‘call-in’ powers (rather than only when they are approving them);
2. Inserting a new duty on the Secretary of State and local authorities to have special regard to climate change adaptation and mitigation in decision-making and preparation of plans and policies;
3. Inserting a requirement for a new “code of practice” for acquiring authorities exercising CPO powers;
4. Conferring a power on the Secretary of State to make regulations affecting the operation, in connection with the effect of nutrients in water, of enactments concerned with the environment, planning or development in England;
5. Prohibiting the application of the nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) regime to large scale solar developments located on the best and most versatile land so these are determined as planning applications by the local planning authority;
6. Ensuring affordable housing is delivered where this is the subject of planning consent, and the proportion of social rent housing is at least 20 per cent;
7. Restricting appeals to the Court of Appeal if the High Court decides that an application for judicial review against various decisions under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990), Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 or Planning (Hazardous Substances) Act 1990 is totally without merit;
8. Giving a statutory basis to the sequential and exception tests to ensure that local planning authorities place due regard on them when preparing local plans and considering individual planning applications and require local planning authorities to keep Strategic Flood Risk Assessments up to date;
9. Introducing new provisions in relation to overlapping planning permissions under the TCPA 1990 to allow for permissions to remain lawful except as stated in the decision notice or associated planning agreement;
10. Implementing Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to end the automatic right to connect surface water to the public sewerage system and provide a framework for the approval and adoption of sustainable drainage systems;
11. Ensuring that any landowner being approached is aware of whether it is just their land that is the subject of purchase/leasing or whether there are others being approached so that the total sum of the land obtained may result in application for designation as a NSIP. 

Lords’ amendments to be included in the Bill

The headline Lords’ Amendments to the Bill which have now agreed by the Commons for inclusion in the Bill are:

1. In relation to the Planning Act 2008 regime for NSIPs:
   1. to enable water NSIPs to be carried out by third parties appointed by water undertakers, as well as undertakers themselves. However, the Lords’ amendments to section 33 will be left out, to retain the automatic disapplication of the requirement to obtain separate scheduled monument or listed building consents for dam and reservoir NSIPs;
   2. to retain the existing requirement for development consent order (DCO) applications to be “of a standard that the Secretary of State considers satisfactory” rather than the “suitable to proceed to examination” wording previously included in the Bill;
   3. to require the Secretary of State to publish a statement of reasons for any decision not to accept an application under section 55 Act; and
   4. to retain the existing acceptance process under section 55 and leave out new section 55A, which would have enabled the Secretary of State to notify a DCO applicant of the actions required to bring their application up to the standard required for acceptance;
2. To remove the application of clause 28 of the Bill (use of forestry estate for renewable electricity) to Wales and limit the Secretary of State’s power in new section 3A to make regulations imposing consent requirements only on generating stations on forestry land which are above the relevant megawattage threshold;
3. To empower the Secretary of State to make new regulations relating to planning (including DCO) applications and consents for wind projects that may affect the operation of seismic array systems used for defence purposes. The regulations may provide for the creation of ‘exclusion’ and ‘restricted’ zones in which wind development will respectively be prohibited or permitted only in compliance with seismic impact limits (to be prescribed). The explanatory statement notes that there are no relevant arrays in Wales;
4. To introduce the ability to include deemed listed building consent or (in Wales) conservation area consent within Transport and Works Act Orders (TWAO);
5. To amend the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018  to enable regulations to impose requirements relating to the accessibility of public charging points;
6. To clarify that when making directions deeming planning permission for development affecting a listed building or its setting, the duty to have special regard to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the heritage asset will apply;
7. To extend the implementation time limits for planning permissions or listed building consents in the event of a legal challenge. There would be an extension of one year in all cases, with a further year where the case goes to the Court of Appeal and a further two years where the case goes to the Supreme Court;
8. To allow Natural England to refuse to respond to certain planning-related queries from local authorities;
9. To make extensive amendments to the Environmental Delivery Plan (EDP) regime which is to be introduced to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 by the Bill. These include amendments to impose a duty on the Secretary of State to make regulations governing Natural England’s approach to addressing the negative effects of development, and procedural amendments across the lifecycle of an EDP. The amendments set out duties on Natural England and the Secretary of State when preparing, amending or revoking an EDP, and expand the duty to take remedial action where an EDP ends or is revoked. There are amendments to ensure the EDP regime is operable in the marine environment;
10. To make amendments to the New Towns Act 1981, the Localism Act 2011, and the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 to resolve overlap between different development corporation models when established in the same area;
11. To amend the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 to provide statutory protection for all Ramsar sites where they may be affected by any plans or projects wholly within England;
12. To make various amendments to the commencement and transitional provisions contained in clause 110 of the Bill. The key transitional dates are: (i) the date the Act is passed, (ii) such date as the Secretary of State may appoint, (iii) and the date which is 2 months after the Act is passed. 

Lords’ amendments to be excluded from the Bill 

However, the following Lords’ amendments were disagreed by the Commons and will not be included in the Bill:

1. To amend the Planning Act 2008 to impose restrictions on the grant of section 35 directions to dam and reservoir NSIPs which require the demolition of more than 20 residential properties;
2. To require the Secretary of State to publish, within 6 months of the Bill being passed, an assessment of the current regulatory regime for low hazard reservoirs including proposals to deregulate such reservoirs to facilitate their construction;
3. To remove permitted development rights for the demolition of buildings which are designated as assets of community value under the Localism Act 2011;
4. To amend the spatial development strategy regime to be introduced to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 by the Bill. The Lords proposed to require spatial development strategies to include protections for chalk streams, to prioritise development on brownfield land, and to seek to increase sustainability and community building by minimising travel distances;
5. To amend the EDP regime to require that environmental impacts identified in an EDP may only affect nutrient neutrality, water quality, water resource or air quality. This would prevent an EDP from discharging environmental obligations relating to other matters (e.g. protected species).

In addition, the Commons did not agree to remove the provisions to amend the Planning Act 2008 to streamline the parliamentary process for designating and amending national policy statements (NPSs). The final Bill will therefore retain the streamlining amendments to speed up the process of amending NPSs to bring policy into line with published government guidance, changes to relevant law, changes to documents referred to in the NPS, or relevant decisions in the courts.   

Next Steps

The matter subject to further consideration by the Commons is the Lords’ Amendment 33, which relates to the parliamentary procedure for making new regulations to require local planning authorities to delegate certain planning functions to committees, sub-committees or officers. 

Following the Commons’ reconsideration of this amendment on 8 December, the Bill will receive Parliamentary approval to proceed to royal assent. The Bill will then enter force as an Act of Parliament, subject to the commencement and transitional provisions in clause 110 of the Bill.  There is talk of (and a fighting chance) the Act receiving royal assent this side of the Parliamentary recess on 18 December. 

When introduced, the Bill will change the way the DCO, TWAO and TCPA regimes operate as well as CPO. Our team has expertise across all areas so please do reach out to Alex Minhinick or Jen Ashwell if you have any queries.