Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced in last month’s mini budget that legislation will be introduced to reduce planning restrictions and laws derived from the European Union that ‘constrain our growth’.

Among tax cuts and energy price interventions, the chancellor noted that the “essential foundation of growth is infrastructure”.

However, he described the planning system for major infrastructure as “too slow and fragmented.

“The time it takes to get consent for nationally significant projects is getting slower, not quicker, while our international competitors forge ahead,” he told parliament.

“We have to end this. We can announce that in the coming months, we will bring forward a new bill to unpick the complex patchwork of planning restrictions and EU-derived laws that constrain our growth.”

Assessments, appraisals, consultations, regulations and “endless duplications” would be streamlined, Kwarteng said.

“We will also review the government’s business case process to speed up the decision-making.”

Kwarteng added that the government will publish a list of infrastructure projects that will be “prioritised for acceleration” in sectors such as transport, energy and telecoms.

The government also plans to increase the disposal of surplus government land to build new homes.

Kwarteng confirmed that there would be new investment zones, reported in the media in the run-up to the mini-budget, for which the government will “liberalise planning rules” in specified agreed sites, releasing land and accelerating development.

Planning freedoms

Victoria Hills, chief executive at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), said: “Investment zones announced in the government plan have the potential to create new planning freedoms to help drive economic growth and regeneration in the areas that need it most.

“Local consent is quite rightly identified as a requirement for investment zones to be chosen, because construction and infrastructure projects cannot simply be pushed on local communities.

“Experience shows that a strong plan-led approach is also needed to make sure planning freedoms are introduced at the appropriate level to deliver investment zones.

“Success will therefore depend on local leadership and further detail from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about forthcoming planning reforms and the new bill proposed for nationally significant infrastructure.

“Investors will be reluctant to seize the opportunities of new zones if our planning system remains complex, its future uncertain and if planners are not sufficiently resourced to help residents and businesses enjoy the benefits of new jobs and development,” Hills said.

23 September 2022