The Planning and Infrastructure Bill takes decisive action to streamline planning, cut delays, and create a more pro-growth environment
Chris Worrall is a housing columnist for LFF. He is on the Executive Committee of the Labour Housing Group, Co-Host of the Priced Out Podcast, and Chair of the Local Government and Housing Member Policy Group of the Fabian Society.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill marks a turning point in Britain’s approach to development, breaking through the bureaucratic gridlock that has long stalled housebuilding, infrastructure, and energy projects. The bill takes decisive action to streamline planning, cut delays, and create a more pro-growth environment—a welcome move for those of us who believe in Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) policies.
For too long, the UK’s broken planning system has made it too hard to build the homes, transport links, and infrastructure we desperately need. The government’s approach finally prioritises delivery, ensuring that projects get off the ground faster, more efficiently, and with less unnecessary obstruction.
Fixing Planning to Unlock More Homes
At the heart of the bill is a major shake-up of the planning process—one that will make it easier to deliver homes where people want to live. Key reforms include:
- Enforceable deadlines for planning decisions to prevent endless back-and-forth.
- Revised fees to properly fund planning authorities, so applications aren’t held up by under-resourced councils.
- Mandatory training for planning officials, ensuring a more consistent, professionalised system.
For renters and first-time buyers, this is great news. By tackling planning delays and uncertainty, the bill paves the way for more homes to be built more quickly—a vital step in easing the housing crisis.
Nationally Significant Infrastructure: Cutting Red Tape to Deliver Growth
The bill also brings a much-needed acceleration of infrastructure projects, unlocking investment in transport, energy, and digital connectivity. This includes:
Faster approvals for major rail and road upgrades, reducing congestion and improving connections between towns and cities.
Electricity grid reforms, helping the UK transition to a cleaner, more secure energy system without unnecessary delays.
Support for long-duration electricity storage, ensuring we can store and use renewable energy more effectively.
Infrastructure is key to economic growth—and by removing barriers to delivery, this bill helps ensure Britain can compete, innovate, and build for the future.
Hope value and compulsory purchase: a balanced approach
One of the most debated aspects of planning reform has been compulsory purchase and hope value—the uplift in land value based on future development potential. Previous proposals to remove hope value sparked concerns that this could discourage landowners from investing to bring sites forward for development, ultimately restricting supply rather than expanding it.
This bill sensibly avoids the pitfalls of heavy-handed intervention, instead taking a measured approach to adjusting compensation mechanisms while keeping the system workable for investors and developers. The focus remains on unlocking land for much-needed projects, such as potentially New Towns, without destabilising the land market or deterring strategic investment. Although remains one area to monitor regarding what these adjustments will eventually entail.
A minor setback amidst progress
While the bill is a strong step in the right direction, the recent refusal of the Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange is a reminder that planning reform alone won’t fix everything overnight. The project—intended to shift freight from road to rail—was rejected due to unresolved infrastructure concerns, rather than opposition to the principle of an interchange.
This highlights the need for better coordination between developers, government, and local authorities to ensure that major projects can overcome planning hurdles and deliver the economic and environmental benefits they promise.
What this means for the future
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is a long-overdue intervention in Britain’s dysfunctional planning system. If delivered effectively, it will:
- Unlock thousands of new homes by removing planning blockages.
- Accelerate transport and energy projects, helping the UK grow and decarbonise.
- Provide more certainty to investors, ensuring key developments get built.
However, as always, implementation will be key. The government must stay committed to these reforms, ensuring that the changes translate into real-world results—more homes, better infrastructure, and a planning system that works for the future, not the past.
For now, this is a bill to welcome—but also one to watch. If Britain is serious about building again, this is exactly the kind of bold action we need.
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