Ministers are making it easier to build new wind farms, reservoirs and large housing estates as part of a series of changes to the Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill aimed at boosting developer confidence.
The changes – which were first revealed by the Guardian – will be confirmed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday, as part of a pre-Budget campaign to underline the Government’s commitment to economic growth.
These include reducing Natural England’s role in choosing relatively minor applications and allowing developers to build turbines near seismic sensors in southern Scotland.
Officials say the amendments to the bill were necessary in part because the government damaged investor confidence by watering down the bill earlier this summer.
Reeves hopes the bill will pass the Lords in time to be factored into the Office for Budget Responsibility’s growth forecasts, which could give it around £3bn of extra headroom over its own debt rules.
Reeves said in a statement: “The outdated planning system has been clogged with cumbersome bureaucracy and held to ransom by blockers for too long.
“Our pro-growth planning bill shows we are determined to cut red tape to allow Britain to rebuild, supporting builders not blockers to speed up projects and show investors we are a country that puts spades in the ground and has a growing economy.”
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, said: “Britain’s potential has been hampered by governments unwilling to reform the stubborn planning system which has thrown up barriers to building at every turn. It is simply not true that nature must lose for economic growth to succeed.”
Reeves and Reed agreed a number of amendments to the planning bill, which is due to go back to the Lords on October 20.
One will allow ministers to prevent councils from refusing planning permission if they plan to “appeal” the application to be decided nationally. Recent examples of planning applications being sought include controversial plans to build a large new Chinese embassy near Tower Bridge.
Another is specifically aimed at allowing developers to build wind turbines near the Eskdalemuir seismic network, which monitors nuclear testing activity around the world. The Ministry of Defense had expressed concerns that its equipment could be damaged by nearby wind turbines.
A third will aim to limit when Natural England, the environmental regulator, should be involved in planning decisions.
Reeves wants to go further in liberalizing the planning system, including with a Nature Bill later in Parliament, which would mean the UK would abandon EU rules on protected species and instead develop its own.
But ministers and officials are unable to agree on the need for a second, separate planning bill. Some in the government want to legislate again to make it easier to build major infrastructure projects such as a third landing strip at Heathrow, but others believe such a bill would be a politically damaging and unnecessary distraction.
