Ministers to announce significant changes to UK’s planning system | Planning policy

Rachel Reeves is preparing to announce a series of planning changes before the budget as a way to initiate Britain’s sluggish economic growth, but the ministers contradict how radical it can be.

The chancellor will announce a series of moves designed to facilitate developers to build houses and infrastructure projects, hoping that the estimated black hole will fill in about £ 3 billion.

The package is designed to increase fragile private sector confidence, Fell to a record level last monthAccording to the figures of the Institute of Management.

The ministers plan a separate natural bill in the parliament, designed to rewrite some of the environmental rules that the government continues to unjustly maintain new projects in the regions of the country.

However, the government’s senior members said that the latest initiatives to encourage the new building will only make technical arrangements that they have announced before. They contradict the progress of the Prime Minister with a completely new planning bill, which the Prime Minister says that he said it is “almost absolutely necessary, but some ministers believe that they will be unnecessary distraction.

A source of government said: “Treasury planning is desperate to make announcements, but the truth is that we already do most of the things we want, and trying to reopen all of them is not a good idea.”

Alexa Culver, a planning lawyer at RSK Wilding, said the government presided on the “strategy, vision, necessary process, consultation or democratic task or“ chaotic bills ”.

A Government Spokesman said: “Chancellor and Housing Secretary are working together to reform the old planning system that keeps this country back – so that we can build 1.5 million houses that people need and give green light to projects such as Lower Thames transitions to direct business and growth.”

Reeves and Keir Starmer put the planning reform at the center of growth plans and started an invoice at the beginning of this year to make it easier to build without much payment for expensive wildlife protection.

However, when the ministers diluted the invoice in the early hours this summer, they encountered a reaction from the developers. The government later decided to change the bill after the pressure from labor deputies, and set more strict rules on how and when to ease the nature for companies to protect nature.

As a result, Reeves is looking for ways to strengthen the bill in Lords.

Although it has not made any final decisions, it is understood that the worker Peer Philip Hunt has looked at an offer to facilitate creating projects that may have minimum environmental impact. In addition, conservative peer Charles Banner is investigating a separate change to facilitate the adaptation after previously approved project plans.

Other changes may include more restrictions on who can bring judicial examination against a infrastructure project and how many times they can do, and it may include prohibiting judges from disrupting a planning approval if legal cases are still heard.

Reeves will explain the support of the changes in the law in the hope that it will pass the lords and will receive royal consent before the budget. If he does this, the authorities believe that the office responsibility of the budget can decide to add approximately £ 3 billion to the economy in the long run.

Nick Williams, who advised the Prime Minister about infrastructure until the beginning of this year, said, ‘The current planning and infrastructure bill is already a very ambitious reform, but there is a place to go further with the changes made in the current invoice or future legislation. “

However, if some of the government forces for significant changes, the chancellor believes in the risk of re -opening a bruising political struggle on the bill of law, and thinks that some of the problems determined by their peers can be solved without legislation.

A high -level government official said: “The risk makes it even more difficult to cross the bill by doing so and will be the opposite of these aims.”

While the debate gets angry about how to change the planning bill, Environmental Secretary Emma Reynolds is preparing a separate nature bill, which the authorities say they will help accelerate the planning system.

Considering the changes for this bill, the protection of the UK, and instead of abandoning a list of European species and habitats, which should be a British one, should be created.

Authorities say that it will help to avoid delaying planning projects because they can damage the types that are already abundant in the UK, such as Yenits, but surrounding campaigns can damage natural areas of natural importance.

Craig Bennett, General Manager of Wildlife Confidence, was promised by the last conservative government that we would not allow decline in EU Environmental Law after Brexit, and the worker promised it in opposition. ”

However, the government is far from the suggestions for a completely new planning bill aiming to clear the path of important infrastructure projects such as Heathrow’s plan to build a third runway.

A new draft law will allow the government to take more steps to restrict judicial investigations, and even allow the Prime Minister to prepare a list of important infrastructure projects that automatically approved.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Announced five projects recently This automatic approval will receive and some of the Downing Street and the Treasury want to follow this clue.

Starmer strongly said last week, Robert Peston, from ITV to Robert Peston, said the government would bring new planning legislation. However, it is faced with resistance to other regions of the government, which says that such a bill will be unnecessary, including the officials of the Ministry of Housing.

A high -level source of government: ne What would a new bill say? It would have approximately two articles and that would happen. ”