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The government has just introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Parliament. The bill, if enacted, would introduce ‘seismic’ changes to the planning and development system, particularly aimed at speeding up and streamlining planning decision-making.

The key proposals of interest to the sector are:

• The system of strategic planning across England would be reintroduced. This would require combined authorities and combined county authorities, both mayoral and non-mayoral, to produce a spatial development strategy (SDS).  Where combined authorities do not exist, county and unitary councils will be given the power to prepare SDS.  The SDS would not be able to allocate sites but would be able to identify broad areas of growth and set out a housing target figure for the area.
• A more streamlined process for compulsory purchase orders (CPO) will be introduced, including extending the existing power to remove ‘hope value’ (value attributed to the prospect of planning permission) to town, parish and community councils where they are using CPO powers to deliver affordable or social housing provision.
• A national scheme of delegation would set out which planning applications should be dealt with by planning officers and which should go to local authority planning committees. This is aimed at reducing the number of non-strategic and controversial planning applications that go to local authority planning committees.
• The government intends to issue guidance setting out the size and composition of local authority planning committees, and members of such committees will be expected to undertake planning training before they can make planning decisions.
• Local authorities would be able to set their own planning fees, and the resulting fees could be ring fenced for the delivery of planning applications.
• The National Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) process to deliver nationally significant infrastructure, such as green energy projects, roads or railway lines, will be streamlined to make it faster.
• There will be greater prioritisation of green energy projects, including making it easier to install electric vehicle charging points.
• Further measures are aimed at boosting new or upgraded electricity infrastructure such as pylons. People living close to such projects/pylons would receive financial benefits/payments.
• The government would set up a Nature Restoration Fund, which will enable developers to meet their environmental obligations by paying into a national fund rather than on a site-by-site basis.

Please note that while most of the proposals would apply to England and Wales, some are England only.

Read the full bill and associated briefings here.