Courtroom challenges to planning decisions to be limited, No10 announce
Courtroom challenges to infrastructure planning decisions are set to be limited, No10 has announced in what they framed as a bid for growth.
Attempts to challenge major infrastructure schemes via the judicial system, such as nuclear plants, train lines and windfarms, will be restricted, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed.
The Prime Minister said the measure, which will be part of an upcoming bill, was necessary to stop “blockers” from “using our court processes to frustrate growth”.
Sir Keir vowed he was “taking on the NIMBYs and a broken system that has slowed down our progress as a nation” in bid to take “the brakes off Britain”.
It comes as Starmer and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves aim to frame the UK as an attractive destination for investors during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, amid ongoing concern for Britain’s economy and the impact of the Autumn Budget on firms.
Opponents of planning applications for renewable energy and transport schemes will now have just one attempt, rather than three, to strike down a scheme via the courts.
The current first attempt – dubbed the paper permission stage – will be scrapped, No10 said.
And the law will be changed so if a High Court judge deems a case totally without merit, it will no longer be possible to take it to the Court of Appeal.
“This is the government’s plan for change in action – taking the brakes off Britain by reforming the planning system so it is pro-growth and pro-infrastructure,” Starmer added.
Cases not ruled totally without merit by a High Court judge will still be able to go to appeal.
The government said this will benefit households in the long-term by lowering energy bills and speeding up commutes, thanks to major infrastructure being built faster.
No10 cited data from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) which found since 2012, 58 per cent of all major infrastructure projects were judicially reviewed – up from a “long-term average of 10 per cent”.
East Anglian windfarms, the Sizewell C nuclear power station and the A47 National Highway Project were examples of projects delayed by court action, the government added.
Ministers have also announced a new nature restoration fund, which they say will allow developers to meet their environmental obligations more quickly and easily.
Deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner said last year: “We can’t have a situation where newts are more protected than people who desperately need housing.”
Lord Banner KC, who independently reviewed the issue of legal challenges into infrastructure schemes, said he found a “clear case for streamlining judicial reviews” and that “delays to these projects cause real detriment to the public interest”.
He added: “Reducing the number of permission attempts to one for truly hopeless cases should weed out the worst offenders.”