- Judicial review reforms considered to unlock major homes and
infrastructure projects
- Plans to reduce costly delays caused by weak legal challenges
- Changes to accelerate growth and help deliver 150 major
infrastructure decisions
Thousands of new homes and major infrastructure projects could be
unblocked under plans being considered to reduce delays
from legal challenges.
Today (Thursday 16 July), the Government launched a consultation
on extending judicial review reforms beyond Nationally
Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) to major
housing, transport and energy developments such
as solar projects, road building or
affordable homes
While judicial review remains a vital safeguard, the
consultation will explore targeted reforms including limiting
repeated unsuccessful attempts to bring claims and introducing
clearer court timetables to prevent weak and meritless challenges
from holding up nationally important projects, while protecting
access to justice and the rule of law.
The proposals build on reforms already introduced through the
Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and changes to court rules,
which streamlined judicial review for NSIPs, helping to reduce
delays, deter weak and meritless claims and ensure
cases are resolved more quickly.
Minister for Courts and Legal Services, KC MP, said:
"Britain needs more homes, better transport links and new
infrastructure. Legal challenges which lack merit should not be
allowed to hold back the developments that create jobs,
drive growth and strengthen communities.
"Judicial review will remain a vital safeguard, but it cannot be
a vehicle for delay. We want to protect access to justice while
getting nationally important projects built faster."
The six-week consultation comes as the Government seeks to
accelerate planning decisions and deliver 150 major
infrastructure decisions this Parliament, helping remove
barriers that slow development and unlock economic
growth. To date, the Government has made 42 decisions on
major infrastructure projects double
the previous Parliament's tally at this stage.
The consultation will seek views on whether reforms
should focus on major infrastructure projects and other
strategically important developments. It will also consider how
any changes can be carefully targeted to avoid undue pressure on
court resources while maintaining access to justice.
This builds on reforms announced in May to streamline legal
challenges by introducing a fixed legal challenge window
for NSIPs, cutting delays from
meritless claims and speeding up delivery of
transport, water and energy schemes.
It comes as the latest figures show an estimated 392,400 homes
have been delivered since the start of this Parliament to 14 June
2026 more than a quarter of the Government's 1.5 million homes
target.
The Government has also confirmed changes coming into force next
week to remove mandatory pre-application consultation
requirements for NSIPs, cutting up to 12 months from the planning
process and potentially saving industry £1 billion this
Parliament.
These reforms build on changes already made to the National
Planning Policy Framework and form part of the Government's wider
drive to make the planning system faster,
more predictable and better equipped to deliver the
homes and infrastructure Britain needs.
