Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	A Bill to make provision about infrastructure; to make provision about town and country planning; to make provision for a scheme, administered by Natural England, for a nature restoration levy payable by developers; to make provision about development corporations; to make provision about the compulsory purchase of land; to make provision about environmental outcomes reports; and for connected purposes.
Citation	Bill 196 2024-25 HL Bill 110
Introduced by	Angela Rayner MP (Commons) Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lords)
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Status: Pending
History of passage through Parliament

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is a bill in the Parliament of the United Kingdom which proposes significant change to planning law in the United Kingdom.

Provisions

The legislation reduces the number of available legal challenges to planning decisions from three to at most two. ^[1]

The legislation moves more decisions away from councillors and towards council officers. ^[2]

The Nature Restoration Fund would be established and managed by Natural England. ^[3] The legislation allows developers to contribute to the fund as part of meeting their environmental obligations. ^[4]

Reception

The legislation was described by Wildlife Trusts as a "trojan horse", describing it as giving developers "cash to trash" green spaces and a "licence to destroy" nature. ^[5]

The Office for Environmental Protection criticised certain parts as weakening environmental protections, but supported most of the bill. ^{[6] [7]}

References

1. "Five key changes set out in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill". Institute for Government. 24 March 2025. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
2. Coates, Sam (11 March 2025). "New planning bill could be the government's most important - but will it work in practice?". Sky News. Archived from the original on 9 June 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
3. "Government plan 'threat to nature', charity says". BBC News. 31 July 2025. Archived from the original on 21 April 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
4. Taylor, Harry (10 June 2025). "Fears of damage to nature from Labour planning reforms overblown, minister says". The Independent. Archived from the original on 31 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
5. McGuckin, Imogen (22 June 2025). "Why ecologists say Planning Bill is a 'Trojan horse' invading our green spaces". ITV News. Archived from the original on 31 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
6. George, Sarah (2 May 2025). "Planning & Infrastructure Bill 'weakens environmental protections', watchdog warns". Edie. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
7. Thompson, Sophie (31 July 2025). "Planning for both people and nature is not a contradiction". Building Design. Archived from the original on 31 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.