More gigafactories, solar farms, roads and railway lines are set to be green lighted in the next five years, adding billions to the economy, as part of stretching new milestones set out by the government.
Planning decisions for major infrastructure projects are set to soar, ramping up economic growth, with at least 150 applications to be decided, as part of the ambitious Plan for Change. Investment in major infrastructure is key to delivering growth and will help improve people’s lives through additional jobs, better connectivity and cheaper energy bills.
The pledge comes as government vows to rebuild Britain, arrest decades of failures and fix the housing crisis to deliver for working people. New ambitious milestones will create higher living standards in every region of the country so that working people have more money in their pockets – an unrelenting focus of the Mission-led government.
This is part of the extensive Plan for Change programme announced by the Prime Minister that will deliver a decade of national renewal.
The new milestone asks Secretaries of States to turbocharge decisions on major infrastructure projects – almost tripling the 57 decisions made in the previous Parliament and more than the total number of decisions made since 2011. This is alongside building 1.5 million safe and decent homes.
While the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill will set out how the delivery process for critical infrastructure is streamlined, including accelerating upgrades to the national grid and boosting renewable energy.
New 10-year strategies for housing and infrastructure will also be published next Spring, providing a roadmap for future investment and economic growth.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “We were elected on the promise of change and turning the page on failure, rebuilding this country from the bottom up.
“That’s why we won’t let the voices of the small minority of blockers hold the country hostage when it comes to growth. We’ve seen this done over the past year - with decisions on vital infrastructure with huge potential to grow our economy being unnecessarily delayed.
“Our Plan for Change will stop this and drive real improvements in the lives of working people.
“We’re already taking decisive action by transforming the planning system and bringing forward the biggest boost in social and affordable housing in a generation and alongside this uplift in infrastructure, we will unlock long-term economic prosperity for every part of the country.”
The government will simplify the consenting process for major infrastructure projects, providing greater certainty to developers and turbocharging economic growth, in line with the government’s Growth and Clean Energy missions. This will help ensure projects are not unnecessarily delayed, so they can be brought forward quicker and provide greater confidence to prospective investors.
Compared to the eight decisions that were approved across the entirety of 2023, the government has already approved six new major projects on transport and energy infrastructure. These include:
- four new solar farms in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, East Cambridgeshire and West Suffolk, Rutland, and Lincolnshire
- a new terminal at the Port of Immingham on the Humber Estuary
- overhead and underground cable electric lines from Bramford, Suffolk to Twinstead in Essex
The four solar projects alone will provide almost two gigawatts of electricity, while the new terminal will further enhance the offering at one of the UK’s leading ports, which handles around 46 million tonnes of cargo every year.
The action being taken by government is a response to the challenges faced when delivering major infrastructure in England, with projects slower and more expensive to build here than in other major countries like France and Italy. Alongside this, the time it takes to secure planning permission for these major infrastructure projects has almost doubled in the last decade to more than four years.
The government’s Growth Mission will change this: fast-tracking infrastructure delivery and home building, providing certainty for planners and enabling businesses to invest.
Alongside this, the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill will pave the way for critical infrastructure to be delivered quicker and easier by removing planning red tape, supported by a new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority. This will implement the government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy in conjunction with industry, while driving more effective delivery of infrastructure across the country.
The changes outlined today are expected to turbocharge the delivery of new infrastructure and homes, with construction soaring to levels not seen in over half a century.
This is against the backdrop of a decline in housebuilding, with the number of homes granted planning permission falling to its lowest level in a decade. The number of new homes delivered will start to rise significantly in the third year of the Parliament.
The government’s been clear it will make difficult decisions to fix the foundations. By taking the tough decision to target Winter Fuel Payments and reform agricultural property relief, we are restoring stability to public finances to deliver for working people.
On top of that, the Budget recently confirmed that government investment in housing will increase to £5 billion for next year. This includes £500 million in new funding for the Affordable Homes Programme to support efforts in delivering tens of thousands of new affordable and social homes across the country.
National Infrastructure Commission Chair Sir John Armitt said: “Signing off 150 development consent orders is a huge undertaking, but essential given the sheer magnitude of transformative infrastructure the country needs: at least 17 major electricity transmission projects to deliver clean power by 2030 and ramped up renewable generation; at least nine major water storage and transfer programmes to keep the taps running; and progress on major projects like East West Rail and Lower Thames Crossing to speed up the country’s transport networks.
“Government’s chances of success will depend on turning its early commitments into sustained action to jump start a lethargic planning system and ensure it becomes a tool for progress rather than an anchor on UK growth. For starters, that means giving the Planning Inspectorate the additional resources it will need to deal with the increased throughput of projects.”
The Commission’s second National Infrastructure Assessment published in October 2023 included a number of recommendations for action by government to speed up the planning system for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), including five-yearly reviews of National Policy Statements, improved sharing of data on environmental mitigations, the development of a framework of direct benefits for local communities which host new infrastructure projects, and central coordination and oversight of the NSIPs process, with measurable targets for reducing consenting times.
