PM pledges to curb ‘NIMBY’ legal blockages on infrastructure

The government has promised that major infrastructure projects such as nuclear plants, train lines and wind farms will be built faster under new planning rules.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said NIMBY (not in my backyard) “blockers” of major infrastructure projects would have less chance of “disrupting growth” through repeated legal challenges.

Currently, infrastructure plans can be challenged in the courts up to three times – ministers intend to reduce this to once in most cases.

Tory shadow leveling secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused Labor of “pushing conservative initiatives” but warned that unless they stop “blocking our efforts to reduce EU legacy red tape”, their efforts will fail. Will happen.

The government said the current rules cause years of delays and hundreds of millions of pounds in additional costs for projects approved by elected officials.

Opponents of plans currently have three opportunities to seek permission for judicial review of major infrastructure projects in England and Wales: writing to the High Court, attending an oral hearing and appealing to the Court of Appeal.

Under the Government proposals, the written platform would be scrapped – meaning campaigners would have to convince a judge in person.

Additionally, any challenge deemed “wholly without merit” by a High Court judge will be unable to go to the Court of Appeal.

Scotland has its own legal and judicial review system.

Ministers said the rule change through the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill would send a strong signal to global companies looking to do business – that the UK is a “great place to invest”.

Sir Keir said it was time to fix “a broken system that has slowed our progress as a nation”.

“For too long, legal challenges have been dominated by obstructionists – they have been using our court processes to impede development,” he said.

“We are ending this challenging culture by combating NIMBYs and a broken system that has slowed our progress as a nation.”

Labor has placed planning reforms at the heart of its mission to boost economic growth, with a promise to deliver 1.5 million new homes over five years.

During the election Sir Keir pledged to “support builders, not blockers” and promised that Labor would prioritize infrastructure to boost growth and the expansion of green energy.

The government has promised to take 150 major infrastructure project decisions by the next elections.

The latest announcement is as follows Review by planning lawyer Lord Charles BannerWho recommended streamlining the judicial review process so that claimants have “fewer pieces of the cherry” when seeking permission to bring a case.

The review found that almost a third of applications for judicial review of major projects were refused permission to proceed altogether, although it was unclear how many were considered “wholly without merit”. Was.

Welcoming the changes Lord Banner said, “Reducing the number of attempts allowed for truly desperate cases should weed out the worst offenders”.

“I look forward to seeing how these changes will help make a big difference to the pace of infrastructure delivery in the coming months and years.”

According to the government, more than half of decisions on nationally critical infrastructure projects end up in court – causing an average of 18 months of delay and running up millions in costs.

Officials pointed to cases including the approval of Sizewell C in Suffolk, where campaigners spent 16 months seeking permission for a judicial review despite their case being described as “uncontroversial” at every stage.

However, in the Sizewell C case only some of the grounds were deemed “wholly without merit”, meaning that the remaining grounds could still be reconsidered by the Court of Appeal.

In response to the government’s proposals Hollinreck said: “While we welcome the government taking forward Conservative initiatives to streamline the planning system, Labor is blocking our efforts to reduce EU legacy red tape, Such as nutrient neutrality, so that the EU can engage more closely with it.”