UK: Infrastructure planning – summer round-up

2025 Spending Review – budgeting for infrastructure

11 June 2025 saw the presentation to Parliament of the government’s Spending Review 2025 – the government’s “plans to invest in Britain’s renewal”. Core to that, we are told, is infrastructure.

The Chancellor recapped a number of the “significant steps to drive growth” made by the government since late 2024, including revisions of the NPPF, the introduction to Parliament of the Bill, and the grant of consent for 18 NSIPs. These “wins” were, according to the government, responsible, in part, for the growth of the UK economy in the first quarter of 2025 (0.7%).

The Chancellor noted that energy security is core to the government’s national security plans, and that failures to invest in home-grown power have left the UK exposed to volatile international fossil fuel markets.

She heralded “ending decades of delay on critical energy projects” by endorsing projects such as Sizewell C and the development of a small nuclear reactor. The allocation of £9.4 billion to carbon capture, usage and storage projects will be welcomed by the energy industry. Offshore wind, transport and housing projects have all been allocated significant investment.

The detail underpinning these announcements – and the numbers underlying them – isn’t yet available and will need some interrogation. It is clear, though, that the government sees infrastructure development as a key pillar of economic growth throughout this parliament and in the future.

Planning and Infrastructure Bill – the need for speed

As we covered in our detailed look at the infrastructure reforms contained in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the government has chosen to take an iterative approach to NSIP reform – making what it calls “targeted and impactful interventions” – rather than root and branch changes.

Government hopes that the need for speed will be satisfied by introducing measures such as the ability to direct projects out of the scope of the 2008 Act and some tightly scoped tweaks to the judicial review process. A new requirement for national policy statements to be updated every five years is intended to bring certainty on the need case and policy basis for NSIP proposals. Already, government has finished a consultation on revised national policy statements (NPSs) for energy infrastructure and, in the last few days, has proposed a revised NPS for ports. The ports consultation closes on 29 July 2025 – presenting a good opportunity to prepare a poolside response!

The starters for ten included in the Bill have since been supplemented by proposals to abridge the pre-application process for NSIP developments by removing the statutory requirement to consult, announced in a written statement to parliament at the end of April. These changes signal a helpful recognition that the (often understandable) temptation to “gold-plate” consultation to ward off legal challenges can contribute to a lengthier DCO process than ought to be necessary. Guidance and advice from the Planning Inspectorate will emphasise the continued importance of consultation – and will hopefully stress the need for proportionality.

Mandatory BNG for NSIPs – counting down to May 2026

The consultations keep coming, and at the end of May the government announced it proposes to introduce mandatory biodiversity net gain for applications for onshore NSIP development that are made from May 2026.

BNG became mandatory for most major developments under the 1990 Act consenting regime in early 2024 and, in anticipation of its introduction into the 2008 Act regime, promoters of many NSIPs have already moved to incorporate biodiversity gains into their proposals.

Acknowledging that consistency across sectors and technologies will reduce complexity for developers and decision-makers alike, the government is seeking views on model text for a core biodiversity gain statement to be replicated and applied to each category of NSIP – but contemplates bespoke arrangements if necessary.

The overall approach will be familiar to those involved in BNG under the 1990 Act – the statutory biodiversity metric will apply, and the core objective is that the biodiversity value attributable to a development will exceed the pre-development value by at least 10%. Biodiversity gain plans will, though, be submitted as part of the application for development consent, and requirements in the DCO will secure any necessary updates to the plan after the grant of consent.

So far, so familiar – but the nature of NSIP development does give rise to some BNG peculiarities with which the industry will need to grapple.

• DCOs will often grant powers of compulsory acquisition. To disincentivise promoters from using compulsory acquisition powers to deliver BNG entirely on-site, the government proposes that applicants can deliver BNG on-site or off-site in the first instance, and then by purchasing statutory biodiversity credits as a last resort. The availability of credits will constitute a “reasonable alternative” to compulsory acquisition.
• BNG will apply to any temporary, permanent and associated development included within the order limits of the DCO. While the “order limits approach” provides a clearly defined boundary and is consistent with the 1990 Act approach, NSIP order limits are often extensive – especially for linear projects – and can be much larger than the actual construction area.
• A key tenet of the delivery of NSIPs is the use of land temporarily before permanent requirements are determined precisely. Without any adjustment to the BNG policy, this temporary land would be included in the pre-development biodiversity value of on-site habitat and would be subject to the 10% BNG requirement. There is concern that biodiversity gain may be difficult to secure on “temporary land” because of landowners’ unwillingness to restrict the use of their land for 30 years. The consultation recognises this and seeks views on whether a bespoke policy for temporary land is necessary.

The consultation – which presents an important opportunity for stakeholders to engage with government on BNG through an NSP lens – closes on 24 July 2025. If the introduction of mandatory BNG into the NSIP regime is to be a success, government will need to ensure that the process is proportionate and straightforward, and its rollout doesn’t compromise the need to accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects.

Every little helps – planning for microgeneration in commercial buildings

Moving from macro to micro, our recent planning guide on microgeneration in commercial buildings looks at whether the Labour government’s clean energy aspirations have impacted the planning landscape for microgeneration, as well as looking at the consenting position and other critical considerations for developers.

This piece forms part of our Microgeneration and the Future of Energy Global Hub, where you can find a series of articles and client toolkits which break down the fast-changing microgeneration landscape and highlight how we can support you through the legal complexities across the value chain, ensuring you can seize opportunities with confidence.

What’s next?

At the time of writing, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill has just completed the report stage of the legislative process in the House of Commons. After a further reading in the Commons, the Bill will move to the Lords. Recess for both the Commons and the Lords starts at the end of July, and the new term begins on 1 September. The party conference season swings into action a couple of weeks later, giving plenty of opportunity for announcements of yet more reform.

The government will be keen to ensure the passage of the Bill as soon as possible. While the mantra remains “streamline, accelerate and simplify”, the development industry – jaded as it is by lots of talk from recent administrations but little meaningful action – will want to see that translated as soon as possible into progress.

Aside from the Bill, the government is expected to publish later in June its 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, which will set out a long term plan for how infrastructure projects are planned and delivered. We are promised a “new approach to infrastructure”, providing certainty and stability, reforming institutions and removing barriers to delivery. Ambitious words – but again, industry will be looking for this strategy to deliver.

As always, there’s plenty to grapple with – and the Hogan Lovells planning team will be on hand to keep you up to date.

Authored by David Wood.