Unpacking the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

With its promises to streamline the planning process, accelerate infrastructure development and unlock economic growth, the UK Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill has sparked debate among policymakers, developers and environmental groups alike. But what does it really mean for the future of planning in the UK? 

Introduced to Parliament on 11 March 2025, the aim of the bill is clear: quoting the government, ‘to speed up planning decisions’, boosting housebuilders and removing unnecessary blockers and challenges to the delivery of vital developments such as roads, railways and wind farms. 

In a webinar featuring Meeting Place’s Nikki Davies and Joseph Baum, alongside guest Ben Simpson from Lichfields, attendees also heard about what’s not in the bill, together with the likely implications and timings of what is included.  

Here, we highlight some of the key elements of the bill discussed on the webinar, exploring its potential impact on housing and infrastructure projects and whether it will truly deliver on its promise of cutting red tape while encouraging more sustainable development. 

Spatial development strategies (SDSs) 

Ben spoke about SDSs as a ‘welcome return to strategic planning: “The intention here is that county authorities and/or combined counties and unitaries will be required to prepare a SDS for their area, be that separately or together, as strategic planning authorities or boards (if there are two or more authorities teaming up). 

 “There’s a process for producing these SDSs in the bill at a high level similar to the existing local plan process, in terms of a draft SDS followed by an examination before, finally, adoption. 

“There isn’t any detail yet on the time periods that those SDSs should cover. I imagine it will be at least a 20-year period given the timescales for local plan coverage and there isn’t any detail yet on the frequency of reviews for those SDSs either. But the familiar pattern is that the SDS will sit at the top of the development plan and then the local plan must be produced in conformity with it. 

“So, you can already see that with devolution proposals still coming through and taking probably at least another two years to come forward, then the preparation of a SDS and then a local plan to be in conformity, so potentially taking quite some time for this to play out.” 

Environmental regulations 

Nikki spoke about the change in approach to nature restoration: “This is a big change which will prevent everyone from having to recreate the wheel and see money funnelled into more impactful projects, identified to protect species or sites of interest.” 

Ben commented: “I think this is potentially the most complicated part of the bill with some of the largest impacts. 

“The government is trying to be more strategic about nature recovery, so what it’s effectively proposing is to give Natural England a more proactive role in creating 10-year environmental delivery plans (EDPs) focusing on specific sites. When a housebuilder brings forward a scheme that affects an area with an EDP there will be a levy that they’ll need to pay upfront, then Natural England will deliver the mitigation in the delivery plan.” 

Joe added: “I think there will be more cost pressures at the start, but on the understanding that local consent or even central government consent will be granted faster, meaning the upfront costs are less.” 

Planning fee reform 

Based on the most recent local government spending data for 2023-2024, there is an estimated annual funding shortfall for LPA development management services of £362 million. 

Nikki comments: “That shortfall is not going to lead to a great service in my opinion. The obvious answer is to release the shackles and let authorities set their own fees.” 

Ben says: “Anyone that has a gripe about the planning system, the one thing they all agree on is there’s not enough resources in it. I think allowing local authorities to set local fees is a great thing. 

“There will be local differences, which will be interesting, but I think generally it can only be a good thing and should help shift the dial towards 1.5million quicker than some of the other elements will.” 

Joe explains: “I think it would be great to see planning officers attend sites and engage face to face which has always been difficult because of that finite level of resource. That would be really positive to see.” 

Planning committee reform 

Nikki said: “There’s been much speculation that the number of applications required to go through planning committee will be reduced through a national delegation scheme, with regulation on committee sizes to improve debates and with mandatory training requirements.” 

Joe adds his experience as councillor for Buckinghamshire Council: “I think training is essential. For people to make decisions, they need to be educated about not just a potential proposal, but the consequences of saying no as well as the consequences of saying yes. 

“I think the real fear is that this devolution is seen by many councillors as centralisation and that might be a good or bad thing. But the feeling from councillors is that their ability to get involved in the decision-making process when it comes to planning will almost certainly be diminished, if not taken away completely. There needs to be a conscious effort from local authorities to make planning relevant to people’s lives, more accessible and less convoluted.”  

Delivery and timing 

Nikki summarises: “The government wants to consent 150 Development Consent Order (DCO) projects by 2029, yet last year just 16 were consented so there’ll need to be some changes to streamline the process. 

“According to my colleague Freddie Palmer, the time it’s taken for previous planning legislation to make it through has included 11 months for the Localism Act, seven months for the Housing and Planning Act and 16 months for the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, so the end of July seems highly ambitious.” 

Want to chat about what the bill means for you? Get in touch to continue the conversation: hello@meeting-place.uk