Planning changes
Posted: 24th January 2025
KEIR STARMER: My Labour Government will stop the time-wasting Nimbys and zealots from holding the country to ransom. [One] group delayed the Sizewell C nuclear plant with … unsuccessful claims. And it is fear of challenge which leads to the ridiculous spectacle of the £100 million bat tunnel for HS2 or the proposal to install an ‘acoustic fish deterrent’ – 288 underwater speakers designed to scare fish away from Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. I wish I was joking. More than half of all decisions on major infrastructure in this country were taken to court, holding us back and stifling growth.
Daily Mail 23rd Jan 2025
Keir Starmer vows to override ‘the whims of nimbys’. The prime minister plans to curb legal challenges against big building projects in order to boost economic growth. Sir Keir Starmer has promised to override “the whims of nimbys” by curbing legal challenges against big building projects. The prime minister said he would no longer let the courts be “abused by pressure groups to frustrate critical infrastructure” as he changes the law to restrict campaigners’ and residents’ rights to bring judicial reviews. League tables of court delays will be created to encourage faster decisions, in reforms designed to speed up decisions by about a year and save hundreds of millions of pounds for the taxpayer. While Starmer is likely to face accusations that ministers are riding roughshod over environmental concerns and protests from local residents, the prime minister is unrepentant about the need to end “challenge culture” which now sees most big projects taken to court. Campaign groups and residents currently have three opportunities to apply for judicial review, which will be reduced to at most two by scrapping an initial “paper permission” stage before oral hearings.
Times 22nd Jan 2025
Major infrastructure projects like nuclear power stations, railway lines and wind farms will be built faster under new planning rules, the government has pledged. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Nimby (Not in My Back Yard) “blockers” of major infrastructure projects will have fewer chances “to frustrate growth” through repeated legal challenges. Currently, infrastructure schemes can be challenged in the courts up to three times – ministers intend to reduce that to once in most cases. Tory shadow levelling up secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour of “taking forward Conservative initiatives” but warned their efforts would fail unless they stopped “blocking our attempts to cut EU legacy red tape”. Ministers said overhauling the rules, via the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, would send a strong signal to global firms looking to do business – that the UK is a “great place to invest”. 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 “unarguable” at every stage. However, only some of the grounds in the Sizewell C case were deemed “totally without merit”, meaning the remaining grounds could still have been reconsidered by the Court of Appeal. In response to the government’s proposals Hollinrake said: “While we welcome the government taking forward Conservative initiatives to streamline the planning system, Labour’s blocking of our efforts to cut EU legacy red tape, such as nutrient neutrality, so they can align more closely with the European Union will hold Britain back.”
BBC 23rd Jan 2025
Legal challenges to infrastructure projects to be blocked in push for growth. Campaigners will be blocked from “excessive” legal challenges to planning decisions for major infrastructure projects including airports, railways and nuclear power stations as part of the government’s drive for economic growth. High court judges will be given the power to rule that judicial reviews on nationally significant projects that they regard as “totally without merit” – and which can currently be brought to the courts three times – will be unable to go to appeal. Government officials said the approach would ensure access to justice and protection against genuine issues of propriety, while pushing back against a “challenge culture” where small pressure groups used the courts to obstruct decisions taken in the national interest. They cited offshore windfarms in East Anglia, the new nuclear power station Sizewell C and the A47 national highway project as examples of projects delayed for years after local campaigners and environmental activists launched judicial reviews, which were all then dismissed. Green groups also have voiced concerns over plans to overrule environmental protections to free up the planning system with a new Nature Restoration Fund which, the government said, would not allow protected species such as newts and bats to be deemed more important than homes or infrastructure.
Guardian 23rd Jan 2025
Belfast Telegraph 23rd Jan 2025
Starmer to tear up Nimby playbook with law change to pave way for Heathrow expansion.
iNews 23rd Jan 2025