How will the Planning and Infrastructure Bill affect architects’ work?

Read the legalese of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which first hit the House of Commons mid-March, and you would be forgiven for thinking it is just a rather painful copy edit of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. 

But that is just how changes in the law work. The government has high hopes for the bill, which it launched with the headline: ‘”Biggest building boom” in a generation through planning reforms.’ 

Here we gather some of the government sources in plain English, to give you an overview of the areas likely to have the most impact on architects. 

Planning fees

Local planning authorities (LPAs) will be able to set their own planning fees to cover their costs. Any additional money raised will be reinvested back into the planning system. The government itself quotes the development management system as suffering an overall annual funding shortfall of £362 million. The fees will still have to be ‘appropriate’, as judged by the secretary of state. The government fact sheet states that this safeguard ‘will prevent LPAs setting fee levels above cost-recovery’.

Clarity over delegation to officers (or not) nationally

A national delegation scheme will be set up to rule which application types are delegated to officers and which to planning committees. The government fact sheet states that the changes should focus committees ‘on those applications which require member input and not revisiting the same decisions’.

Smaller, trained, planning committees

The bill also sets out to control the size of planning committees, with the government empowered to ‘prescribe requirements relating the size and composition of a committee or sub-committee’. Planning committee members will be required to undertake relevant training. 

Neighbouring authorities working together across boundaries

A new system of strategic planning across England will group neighbouring authorities to provide cross-boundary spatial development strategies. The secretary of state will be able to give direction on particular policies or entire plans for timetabling, housing distribution or other reasons. Authorities that have elected mayors will be give new development management powers.

Updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will follow, guidance states. RIBA is recommending that a design vision be included as part of strategic spatial strategies. 

Pooled environmental contributions

A Nature Restoration Fund will be introduced, which developers will be able to pay into to discharge environmental obligations more quickly than they are under a project-by-project approach. At the same time, the fund will allow for larger-scale interventions. This could make inroads into simplifying the fraught issue of nutrient neutrality, which stalled many projects when it was introduced and has demanded an additional layer of expertise in design teams and from planners. 

Also in the bill

• Development corporations will be strengthened
• The compulsory purchase order process will be reformed 
• Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) will have streamlined processes, including at consultation 
• People living within 500m of new electricity transmission infrastructure will receive electricity bill discounts of up to £2,500 over 10 years. 

When is the bill likely to become law?

Expectations are that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will progress through the House of Commons and reach the House of Lords around mid-July. Scrutiny is likely to continue during the autumn. The government is expected to make this bill a priority, especially in light of the recent Office of Budget Responsibility forecast, which highlighted planning reform as a key driver of growth.

When can we find out details of how the bill works in practice?

Even when it becomes law, it currently only gives secretary of state the power to intervene in many of these areas – so precise details will emerge over time.