The Government has promised to “unleash seismic reforms” to the planning system as it publishes major new legislation on Tuesday.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is expected to include wide-ranging reforms, including streamlining the planning process, changing the way developers meet environmental obligations, and giving communities near new electricity pylons money off their energy bills.
Along with recent changes to national planning policy, Labour hopes the legislation will help deliver on its promise to build 1.5 million homes and make decisions on 150 major infrastructure projects by the next election.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the Government would create “the biggest building boom in a generation” by “lifting the bureaucratic burden which has been holding back developments for too long”.
She added: “The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will unleash seismic reforms to help builders get shovels in the ground quicker to build more homes, and the vital infrastructure we need to improve transport links and make Britain a clean energy superpower to protect billpayers.”
Angela Rayner said the Government’s plans would unleash ‘the biggest building boom in a generation’ (Leon Neal/PA)
The Bill is expected to include changes to how planning decisions are made, with more applications decided by planning officers rather than elected councillors, and council planning committees slimmed down to “ensure good debate is encouraged”.
Councils will also be allowed to set their own planning fees to recover their costs, while “meritless” legal challenges to major applications will face a crackdown.
Other changes include a new nature restoration fund, allowing developers to pay into larger environmental projects instead of funding their own site-by-site initiatives, which the Government hopes will avoid a repeat of the £100 million “bat tunnel” HS2 was required to build.
There will also be a scheme for those living near new electricity pylons to receive up to £250 a year off their energy bills for 10 years along with community projects such as leisure facilities in order to encourage communities to host vital infrastructure.
These measures are likely to be funded by an increase in energy bills for other consumers, but it is understood the Government expects this to be an increase of only a few pence per household when spread throughout the country.
But many of the details remain to be decided and will be subject to consultation, including how the bill discount scheme will work and which decisions will be made by planning officers rather than councillors.
There will also be a consultation on whether to remove some organisations such as Sport England and the Theatres Trust from the list of bodies legally required to be consulted on planning decisions.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook told reporters that consultations would run in parallel with the legislative process, saying this would allow the Government to implement new measures faster once the Bill had received royal assent.
He also insisted that decisions on “the most significant and controversial” applications would still be made by councillors.
Sam Richards, CEO of campaign group Britain Remade, welcomed the proposals, saying they would mean “more jobs for builders and less work for lawyers”.
But he added that there was a “risk” that the proposals would not “consign £120 million bat tunnels…to history”, saying: “Only when this is achieved will we have a planning system that truly backs the builds and not the blockers.”
Housebuilders also welcomed the proposals, with Home Builders Federation chief executive Neil Jefferson describing them as “swift moves to address the failings in the planning system”.
He said: “Removing blockages, speeding up the decision-making process and ensuring local planning departments have the capacity to process applications effectively will be essential to getting more sites up and running.”
But the proposed changes to environmental rules could prove contentious, with campaigners seeking to reject the argument that they act as “blockers” in the planning system.
Richard Benwell, CEO of nature coalition Wildlife and Countryside Link, welcomed some aspects of Tuesday’s legislation, but called for more enforcement to “ensure that unsustainable development can never proceed with impunity”.
He added: “For nature recovery and development to go hand-in-hand, the Bill should be strengthened with a guarantee that all planning decisions must be compatible with nature and climate targets, more protection for irreplaceable habitats and nature recovery areas, and new building regulations for biodiversity so that all infrastructure is wilder by design.”