Planning and Infrastructure Bill – Planning Decisions
Rebecca Stewart analyses the provisions in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that relate to planning decisions.
On 11 March 2025, the Government introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill into Parliament with a promise to speed up planning decisions and ‘get Britain building’.
Sharpe Pritchard’s Planning and Parliamentary team have been analysing the likely implications of the Bill in recent weeks.
The focus of this article is on the aspects of the Bill which relate to planning decisions, contained in Part 2, Chapter 1 of the Bill.
What changes have been proposed?
The Bill introduces a number of reforms to the current system in place for managing and determining planning applications, empowering the Secretary of State to introduce key changes to local planning authorities’ (“LPAs”) functions through secondary legislation.
The first is a mechanism to enable LPAs to set their own fees for processing planning applications. This represents a move away from the current system of nationally-set planning fees.
The Bill also provides for the introduction of a new national scheme of delegation, which will set out which planning functions should be delegated to planning officers and which should be discharged through planning committees and sub-committees, along with best practice guidance to streamline outcomes.
Finally, the Bill enables the Government to require mandatory training for LPA planning committee members.
Such training is expected to cover a range of topics including the determination of planning applications and the issuing of planning enforcement notices.
Members will be required to obtain a “completion certificate” on their fulfilment of the training requirements to demonstrate their competency in relation to their exercise of planning functions.
Members without such a certificate will be prohibited from participating in planning committee decision making.
How will this impact you?
The ability for LPAs to set their own planning fees represents an opportunity for LPAs to plug existing identified funding gaps.
The Government’s hope is that an injection of additional financial resources where needed will in turn improve the efficiency of LPA decision making, thereby providing benefit to developers alike.
To utilise this new regime, LPAs will need to invest time and resources to determine appropriate local charging rates and meet any consultation, publication and notification requirements prescribed by regulations.
Careful consideration as to pricing will be required, given that the level of the fees will have to be calculated or set with a view to ensuring that, so far as possible, they do not exceed the cost of carrying out the function in respect of which they are imposed.
The Secretary of State will be able to intervene where they consider that LPA charges are disproportionate or where an LPA has not met the requirements for setting and varying fees, so it will be important that LPAs follow the legislation carefully when seeking to introduce new charging structures.
Developers will have the protection of the regulatory oversight of the Secretary of State in ensuring that LPA fees are fair and not a hindrance to development.
A national scheme of delegation is also expected to increase the timeliness of planning decisions, by reducing the number of applications that will need to go before a planning committee for determination.
What the scheme of delegation will look like is a matter to be set out in regulations but last year the government released a policy paper detailing possible options, which we explored here.
A national strategy should reduce disparities across LPAs in terms of time and costs for processing similar applications, giving developers greater confidence in pursuing schemes across the country.
Developers may also find themselves at an advantage in terms of securing successful planning outcomes, with fewer applications subject to the scrutiny of members.
An increase in decision making by officers under delegated powers will increase the importance for objectors to make incisive and planning-merit-focused written objections, given the reduced opportunities to persuade members by way of appearance at committee.
Mandatory training of members should help to improve the quality of decisions by planning committees and in theory reduce the risk to LPAs of appeals and legal challenges.
Applicants should also find there to be greater certainty and consistency in the treatment of applications by elected members.
LPAs will need to ensure members are compliant with the government-set training requirements and produce and publish a reliable record of members who have completed the relevant training.
Rebecca Stewart is an Associate at Sharpe Pritchard LLP.
How can we help?
These latest reforms to LPA decision making collectively demonstrate a strong move by the Government towards meeting its goal of supercharging housing delivery across the country.
The full extent of the Government’s intended intervention in this area is yet to be seen; the Government recently announced, for example, that it will be looking to reduce the role of statutory consultees in future decision making to overcome associated delays and uncertainty.
As regular and trusted advisors to LPAs, Sharpe Pritchard’s planning team are well placed to assist LPA clients in understanding and responding to the latest planning reforms.
We can help LPAs with legal compliance issues and, as well as acting as legal advisors at planning committees, we offer training at a range of levels for committee members and officers tailored to each client’s specific needs.
Our team also advises and acts for developers and individuals throughout the planning process and we can assist with planning applications or preparing objections, responding as necessary to any relevant industry changes.
Sharpe Pritchard’s Planning and Parliamentary team monitor new legislation before and during its passage through Parliament, and advise planning authorities and developers on the full range of planning matters. These include complex large-scale developments and Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
Please contact a member of our team if you require advice on the matters raised in this article.
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This article is for general awareness only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this page was first published. If you would like further advice and assistance in relation to any issue raised in this article, please contact us by telephone or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
