Pro-growth package unshackling Britain to get building
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New measures to slash delays and get Britain building faster
through landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill New powers
for Secretary of State could stop councils rejecting planning
permissions, tackle blockers in the courts, alongside plans to
accelerate reservoirs, windfarms and large housing
schemes Turbocharging the Plan for Change to
create high-paying jobs, put money back into people's pockets, and
secure more homegrown clean energy ...Request free trial
New homes, more clean energy, and greater water security will be within reach for hundreds of thousands of working people and families, as the government vows to sweep aside blockers standing in the way of growth and dismantle barriers to get Britain building. A pro-growth package announced by the government today (Tuesday 14 October) will look at supporting the full potential of the landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill – a key driver for growth to slash planning delays currently shackling the UK economy. If voted through, Ministers will get new powers to prevent applications being rejected by local councils while they consider using ‘call-in' powers to decide whether or not they should be approved. Currently some councils are dragging their feet to get on and build with nearly 900 major housing schemes blocked in the past year alone. New proposed measures would greenlight reservoirs faster, pumping fresh water into the taps of people's homes, and unlocking new opportunities for housebuilding after more than 30 years without a new reservoir in the UK. Pro-growth changes will pave the way for cleaner energy, including onshore windfarms, to drive millions of pounds of investment into local areas, prevent bill hikes and create thousands of new jobs. Allowing Natural England to streamline its role by freeing it up to make sensible choices on when to provide advice to local authorities will free up valuable resources. This will enable the organisation to focus on higher priority planning applications and nature recovery, helping to accelerate approvals for new homes and infrastructure. Under government plans builders will also receive a helping hand to stop planning permissions from being timed out on vital housing projects tied up in the courts, accelerating and unlocking stalled schemes so money can be better spent on getting spades in the ground rather than starting back at square one. If passed, each of these pro-growth changes will accelerate the government's Plan for Change to build 1.5 million homes, achieve clean power by 2030, raise living standards in every corner of the country and put more money back into working people's pockets.
Housing Secretary, Steve Reed said: As the landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill rapidly continues its way through Parliament and is set to become law this year, today's wide-ranging package fully embraces the government's drive to go further and faster in unleashing the biggest era of building in the country's history. Key changes include:
Thanks to new pro-growth reforms, the government remains firmly on track to make 150 planning decisions on major infrastructure projects, with a record breaking 21 decisions in the first year of any Parliament, and has already greenlit projects including hot-off-the-wheels Gatwick airport expansion and the long-awaited Lower Thames Crossing. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves said: “The outdated planning system has been gummed up by burdensome bureaucracy and held to ransom by blockers for too long. “Our pro-growth planning bill shows we are serious about cutting red tape to get Britain building again, backing the builders not the blockers to speed up projects and show investors that we are a country that gets spades in the ground and our economy growing.” This announcement follows the Housing Secretary's commitment to ‘Build, baby, build', as the government begins to embark on the next phase of reforms to remove every barrier to build 1.5 million homes this Parliament as well as accelerate the construction of major infrastructure including roads, railways, and solar farms. Planning reforms already made by the government will alone drive housebuilding to its highest level in over 40 years, and this does not account for measures to be brought forward through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
The government's own analysis confirmed earlier this year that
changes to get Britain building could benefit the economy by up
to £7.5 billion over the next 10 years. Note to editors:
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