King’s Speech brings Planning and Infrastructure Bill

The new government will “get Britain building” through a Planning and Infrastructure Bill as confirmed in the King’s Speech today (July 17), with the Bill seeking to unblock currently stalled developments.

In his speech, setting out the government’s legislative programme for the next year, the King introduced the Bill, which the government said would accelerate housebuilding and infrastructure delivery by streamlining the planning process, unlocking more sites for development, enabling more effective land assembly, “and in doing so speeding up housebuilding and delivering more affordable housing,” also delivering more homes of all tenures, according to the government’s document outlining the legislation.

The Bill also seeks to use development “to fund nature recovery where currently both are stalled”. The government stated in the King’s Speech document that over the summer, it would work with “nature delivery organisations, stakeholders and the sector to determine the best way forward”.

But it cautioned that it would only act within legislation “where we can confirm to parliament that the steps we are taking will deliver positive environmental outcomes”.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will also improve local planning decision making by modernising planning committees. It will, according to the government, increase local planning …