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The UK government has pledged to speed up the construction of major infrastructure projects, including nuclear plants, wind farms and train lines, via new planning rules. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that Not in My Back Yard (Nimby) protesters will have fewer opportunities to cause delays through legal challenges. Currently, campaigners can oppose schemes three times through legal challenges in England and Wales, including through writing to the High Court, making an oral hearing and appealing to the Court of Appeal. The new proposals will reduce the number of opportunities to one in most cases.
The government has said that the existing rules currently allow schemes approved by elected officials to be delayed for years, resulting in millions of pounds in additional costs. By overhauling the rules, the government said the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill would send a message to global firms that the UK is a “great place to invest”. Starmer has said it is “time to fix a broken system that has slowed down our progress as a nation”. The government has pledged to make 150 major infrastructure project decisions before the next election.
The measures have been welcomed by planning lawyer Lord Charles Banner, who reviewed the judicial process for planning permission and found that around a third of applications for judicial review of major projects were refused completely. Banner welcomed the reduction in the number of permission attempts to “weed out the worst offenders”. However, Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory shadow levelling up secretary, accused Labour of “taking forward Conservative initiatives” and warned their efforts would fail unless they stopped “blocking our attempts to cut EU legacy red tape”.
Labour has placed planning reforms at the centre of their ambitions to boost economic growth, pledging to create 1.5 million new homes in five years. Labour’s election campaign in 2020 invited voters to support “builders, not blockers” promising to prioritise infrastructure and expand green energy in the UK. Although Scotland has its own legal and Judicial Review system, England and Wales will see the proposed changes implemented in the near future
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