Planning system changes look to aid the delivery of UK infrastructure

The government's recently published UK infrastructure strategy reads as part policy, part manifesto and will be material in planning decisions and setting out government support for many of the projects highlighted in the 10-year plan.  

The strategy states the government's support for a third Heathrow runway, for example. But a basic tenet of that strategy is to bring forward steps to unburden the bureaucracy of the planning system in consenting projects. The proposed changes are already mainly in play through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB). The policy paper identifies a new approach to delivering infrastructure based on three "pillars": reforming institutions; providing certainty, confidence, and stability; and removing barriers to delivery.

In executing the first objective, the government has set up the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA). In executing the third objective, the government proposes to develop a spatial approach to infrastructure planning and remove obstacles in the planning consent process.

'Spatial' planning

The government proposes taking a spatial approach to planning infrastructure. The strategy paper states that delivering the right social and economic infrastructure projects in the right places at the right time requires clear direction from government and a "spatial" approach to planning. The government intends to set out national spatial priorities as part of future updates of the strategy that will be due every two years.

The intention is for NISTA to develop a national infrastructure spatial digital tool that will strengthen the evidence base for place-based infrastructure investment decisions. The paper notes that this means co-ordinating and integrating policies for the development and use of land with other place-based policies and programmes such as housing, the environment and public services.

This exercise will look at a region's need for new infrastructure and highlight priorities for planning and investment. The government has stated that it is taking steps to support local authorities to update plans including via the National Planning Policy Framework, which will no doubt form the evidence basis of the "need" case to support planning decision-making for new infrastructure.

The PIB contains a role for the new strategic planning boards and others to produce spatial development strategies, which will form part of the development plan. Local plans will then need to follow the spatial plan. 

Planning reform

Operational reforms, which will in part come forward in the PIB, plan to improve the efficiency of consenting processes for major infrastructure projects.

Significant changes include the elimination of the statutory requirement for pre-application consultations for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIP); allowing commercial infrastructure such as gigafactories, laboratories and data centres to opt into or out of the NSIP regime; updating national policy statements to provide clear priorities for developers and decision makers; prioritising energy projects according to strategic plans, such as the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and Centralised Strategic Network Plan; and introducing judicial review reforms to reduce meritless claims against development consent orders.

The government also intends to ensure the planning system is well resourced by allowing full cost recovery for NSIP-related services for the Planning Inspectorate and other statutory bodies and improved local authority funding. Planning committees will be modernised to ensure a more efficient and better-informed decision-making process. 

More housing and a newbuild pipeline

Among planning reforms to aid delivery of infrastructure and housing, the strategy paper notes that the government is reintroducing housing targets through the National Planning Policy Framework to deliver 580,000 new homes.

The strategy paper notes that the government is working to address objections to new developments and support delivery of water, energy and transport infrastructure to support new housing. This includes the reform in the PIB to deliver nature-based solutions at a strategic level where requiring site-specific measures has been seen as an obstacle to new housing. 

Osborne Clarke comment

Much of the planning reforms set out in the strategy paper are already in play through the introduction of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Of these, reforms to nature-based solutions remain politically contentious and may yet be amended in a way that leaves in place more of the existing challenges that impact on the delivery of new infrastructure.

The announcement to update the strategy biannually must be welcomed. Overall, though, reducing the burden of planning procedures has to be welcomed when seeking to provide investable infrastructure that can be delivered to boost the economy. 

Fabian Trotman Drake, a trainee solicitor with Osborne Clarke, co-authored this Insight.