The Impact Assessment for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill has been issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
MHCLG writes in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill Impact Assessment:
… 1. Sustained economic growth is the only route to the improved prosperity that our country needs and the higher living standards working people deserve. Despite this, and as set out in our Plan for Change, the last Parliament was the worst for living standards in modern history, with incomes squeezed and growth stagnant. To reverse this, our planning regime needs decisive and urgent reform. Its failure has left us without the homes we need and without the key infrastructure we should be able to rely on: the time it takes to secure planning permission for major economic infrastructure projects has almost doubled in the last decade to more than four years; it is slower and more costly to build economic infrastructure in England than other major countries like France and Italy; and no new reservoir has been built in over 20 years.
2. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is the next step to fix the foundations of our economy, rebuild Britain and make every part of our country better off. The Bill will support delivery of the Government’s hugely ambitious Plan for Change milestones of building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects by the end of this Parliament. The Bill aims to fuel growth, speed up and streamline planning processes and ultimately accelerate the delivery of high quality infrastructure and housing. The Bill will also support delivery of the Government’s Clean Power 2030 target by ensuring that key clean energy infrastructure is built as quickly as possible.
3. To do this, the Bill will:
• Deliver a faster and more certain consenting process for critical infrastructure, including the energy infrastructure needed to deliver our Clean Power 2030 target;
• Introduce a more strategic approach to nature recovery;
• Improve certainty and decision-making in the planning system;
• Unlock land and secure public value for large scale investment; and
• Introduce effective new mechanisms for cross-boundary strategic planning.
4. The analysis set out in this document and accompanying annexes indicates that the Bill will achieve these aims and be a significant boost to businesses and households in the UK. Over the ten year appraisal period, the overall positive impact estimated on society is equivalent to £3.2 billion, with a potential high range of up to £7.5 billion. We expect this to significantly understate the impact of the combined measures in this Bill as there will be wider, un-monetised benefits such as the benefit to society from the quicker delivery of housing and infrastructure, and the macroeconomic contribution of increased development supported by the Bill.
5. Many of the measures in this Bill have been informed by extensive stakeholder engagement; responses to the Government’s series of working papers on planning reforms covering Planning Committees, Development and Nature Recovery, and Critical Infrastructure Reforms; and various consultations and calls for evidence, including those covering compulsory purchase, sub-delegation of planning fees, Scottish electricity consenting, Judicial Review and Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects; and electric vehicle chargepoint rollout.
6. As set out in this impact assessment, the Government has produced a comprehensive analysis of the measures within the Planning and Infrastructure Bill including an assessment of the impacts on households and businesses (including micro and small businesses). Our assessment of the impacts is summarised in this document and supported by the detailed analysis for each in scope Bill measure, or group of measures, set out in the accompanying annexes.
7. Problem analysis, the rationale for Government intervention and the objectives of the Bill are set out in Sections 3, 4 and 5. A description of the options considered, including the consequences of failing to intervene, is set out in Section 6. Section 7 summarises the impact of Bill measures both thematically by headline Bill objective and sectorally. The impact of the Bill will be monitored through a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme set out in Section 8. A number of measures in this Bill fall outside the scope of this impact assessment as per the principles set out in the Better Regulations Framework – a full list of these measures along with the rationale for their exclusion is set out in Section 11.
8. The reforms in this Bill come alongside wider action to get Britain building again, including:
• Ending the de facto ban on new onshore wind in England;
• Pro-growth changes to the National Planning Policy Framework implemented in December 2024;
• Supporting local authorities with 300 additional planning officers across the country;
• Greater intervention in the planning system with the benefit of development as a central consideration;
• Identifying and building the next generation of new towns, including major urban extensions;
• Providing councils and housing associations with the long-term rent certainty and capital investment they need to deliver the biggest boost to new social and affordable homes for a generation;
• Updating relevant National Policy Statements within a year and establishing a ten-year infrastructure strategy to give investors and the supply chain the long-term certainty needed to underpin investment.
Alongside this, we will establish the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority as an authoritative voice at the centre of Government to drive forward delivery.
