Planning reform - LURA 2023 and beyond

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. Although the majority of the planning-related provisions of the Act are not yet in force, if implemented they represent fundamental change to the planning system in England as we know it. Some of the most radical provisions, such as the Infrastructure Levy, will not be rolled-out nationwide for many years, even under the government's timetable. It is therefore hard to tell how quickly we may see actual changes to the system being implemented pursuant to this Act.

However, the government is already trailing further changes to the system. For example, in this week's Autumn Statement we heard about proposals to introduce new "premium planning services" across England with "guaranteed accelerated decision dates for major applications and fee refunds wherever these are not met". Whilst the Chancellor also announced "additional funding to tackle planning backlogs in Local Planning Authorities", we wonder how this new proposal can work in practice. We wait to see further detail.

As for what next, despite the recent ministerial changes at DLUHC and Defra, we expect to be kept busy with further government announcements over the next few months. The proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework should be published soon (we are now told that this will be "later in 2023"), which should include more detail on the new National Development Management Policies introduced by the Act. We also expect the long-awaited biodiversity net gain regulations and guidance by the end of this month in preparation for implementation of mandatory biodiversity net gain in January 2024.

We have prepared a detailed briefing which summarises and analyses the parts of the LURA 2023 which relate to planning and development. Please contact us if you are interested in receiving a copy.

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