Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2024-25: Progress of the bill

On 11 March 2025, the government presented the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Parliament.

Full background on the bill, and its provisions as originally introduced, can be found in the Library briefing Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2024-25.

The second reading debate took place on 24 March 2025.

Committee stage

The bill was considered by a public bill committee over 14 sittings between 29 April and 22 May 2025. A compilation of the debates [PDF] is available for all sittings online, as is a consolidated list of committee decisions [PDF].

The government tabled several new clauses to the bill, all of which were agreed. All government amendments to the bill were also agreed. There were no successful opposition amendments to the Bill.

New clauses

The new clauses introduced at the committee stage were:

• Clause 4, which would remove the statutory requirement for nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) applicants to consult at the pre-application stage.
• Clause 5, which would amend legislation on the provisions for the pre-application stage of the NSIP process as a consequence of clause 4.
• Clause 9, which would introduce further provisions to enable surveying of land for NSIP projects to inform environmental assessments.
• Clause 10, which would remove the distinction between material and non-material amendments and introduce greater flexibility for making minor amendments to NSIPs.
• Clause 48, which would allow for an additional charge to be added to planning application fees to cover the costs of statutory consultees engaging in the planning process.
• Clauses 76 to 83 create powers of entry to land for both Natural England and the Secretary of State to survey or investigate land as part of their duties with regard to the creation and implementation of Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs). This includes powers to request a warrant where entry is denied.
• Clause 86 creates powers additional to these set out in Clause 85 for the Secretary of State to nominate another person to carry out the duties of Natural England, by allowing the transfer if necessary of rights, assets and liabilities from Natural England.
• Clause 90 allows for regulations introduced under Part 3 of the Bill covering development and nature recovery to be applicable to the Crown.

Stakeholder views

The Better Planning Coalition represents 34 organisations across the environment, housing, planning, heritage and transport and focuses on “a planning system fit for climate, nature and people”.  It set out its view on five ways the Planning and Infrastructure Bill needs improving. In article by the Hansard Society, The Planning and Infrastructure Bill: What happens when detail is deferred? published on 14 May 2025, criticised the government’s increasing tendency to present legislation that lacks detail, highlighting the proposals for benefits for homes near electricity transmission projects included in the bill.

The countryside charity CPRE has called for a number of measures to address the rural housing crisis to be included in the bill, including  a ‘use it or lose it’ policy that would “require developers to build the 1.4 million homes for which planning permission has already been granted”. The National Farmers’ Union has raised concerns about the compulsory purchase powers set out in the bill stating that they “risk further eroding farmers’ confidence and trust in government”.

Part 3 of the bill has attracted significant attention from stakeholders since the bill was published.

A joint statement from stakeholders calling for the Part 3 of the bill to be rethought was published on 22 May 2025. Its stated that the bill fell short on “the protection and restoration of the natural environment, the delivery of high-quality development, and the promotion of sustainable economic growth”.

The Wildlife Trust published research on 22 May, Planning & Development: Nature isn’t the problem (PDF),  and together with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), published a statement which said that bill in its current form, fundamentally undermines the government’s commitment to protect nature.

The Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of conservation organisations, has proposed a number of amendments which it consider would address some of the concerns raised by stakeholders.

Specific concerns raised include those raised by the Office of Environmental Protection that the bill downgrades nature protection by removing the mitigation hierarchy included in the Habitats Regulations 2017. Campaign group Wild Justice is of the view that it may also contravene provisions in Section 20 of the Environment Act 2021 which do not allow for new legislation to reduce environmental protections. There are also concerns that the proposed legislation may be incompatible with international conservation obligations under the Bern convention.