By Laura Potts, MRTPI, Planning Consultant, CAD Architects
On 11th March 2025, the UK government announced the ‘biggest building boom’ in a generation as they introduced their flagship Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
As a leading architecture firm based in Truro, CAD Architects is very pleased to see the accelerated commitment to building new homes.
We have already highlighted changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and the government’s ‘Plan for Change’ in an earlier blog article https://cadarchitects.co.uk/architects-news/uk-planning-reform-is-set-to-accelerate-in-2025/.
It is great to see the government’s commitment to build 1.5 million homes reinforced by the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill this month.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2024-2025 had its First Reading in the House of Commons on 11 March 2025. The Second Reading was scheduled for 24 March 2025.
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Angela Rayner, said:
“ We’re creating the biggest building boom in a generation – as a major step forward in getting Britain building again and unleashing economic growth in every corner of the country, by lifting the bureaucratic burden which has been holding back developments for too long.”
Here is a summary of the key measures unveiled in this important new Bill.
Streamlining Planning Decisions
A national scheme of delegation will be introduced that sets out which types of housebuilding applications should be determined by planning officers and which should go to committee. Planning committees will be overhauled with new controls over their size and mandatory training for planning committee members. Councils will also be able to set their own planning fees – with money reinvested back into the planning system.
A Nature Restoration Fund
A Nature Restoration Fund will be set up to enable builders to meet their environmental obligations faster and at a greater scale. Contributions will be pooled to fund larger environmental interventions.
Compulsory Purchase Reform
The compulsory purchase process for projects that are in the public interest will be improved and strengthened. The reforms will ensure compensation paid to landowners is not excessive.
Development Corporations
Development Corporations will be strengthened to make it easier to deliver large-scale development like the government’s new towns.
Strategic Planning
A system of ‘strategic planning’ will be introduced across England known as spatial development strategies. This will look across multiple local planning authorities for the most sustainable areas to build and ensure development needs and infrastructure requirements are joined up.
National Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP)
The NSIP regime that delivers infrastructure projects will be sped up. Consultation requirements for projects – such as windfarms, roads or railway lines –will be streamlined, and ensure the national policies against which infrastructure applications are assessed are updated at least every five years, so government priorities are clear. The process by which government decisions on major infrastructure projects can be challenged will also be overhauled. Meritless cases will only have one – rather than three – attempts at legal challenge.
Clean Energy
Clean energy projects that help achieve clean power by 2030, including wind and solar power, will be prioritised for grid connections. A ‘first ready, first connected’ system will replace the current ‘first come, first served’ approach, whereby some projects currently face waits of over 10 years.
Bill Discounts
The Bill proposes that people living within 500m of new pylons across Great Britain will get money off their electricity bills up to £2,500 over 10 years.
The current version of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill can be found here on the Parliament website. https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3946
At CAD Planning, we see the new Bill as highly significant and a big step forward towards creating the new housing that is badly needed to address the housing crisis both in Cornwall and across the UK.
To discuss how the many current changes could affect your next building project, you can contact us on 01872 630040 or email info@cad-planning.co.uk.