Planning & Infrastructure Bill - May 2025

Following our previous article on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (“the Bill”) last month, we now provide a further update. The Bill has become increasingly controversial with criticism being directed primarily at Part 3 of the Bill, which introduces a nature restoration levy.

The Bill introduces the environmental development plan (“EDP”) which is supposed to address the impact of specified types of development on relevant environmental features. The EDP will include a charging schedule setting out the rates to which the amount of a nature restoration levy is determined for each kind of development (“the Levy”). The explanatory notes to the Bill make it clear that the Levy can be paid in relation to an EDP that relates to a protected feature of a protected site which will result in the environmental impact of development on that feature being disregarded for the purposes of obligations under the Habitats Regulations or the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The Bill as currently drafted allows developers to pay the Levy before development commences.  This has come under fierce scrutiny as it means developers will be able to circumvent requirements under the Habitats Regulations or the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 by paying the levy.

Reactions

The government has recently boasted the ability to boost the economy “by up to £7.5 billion over the next decade thanks to the pro-growth Planning and Infrastructure Bill.” However, the Bill has attracted criticism for the potential devastating impacts to ecology, which includes the following quote from a public letter signed off by several prominent figures:

“We urge you to look beyond the slogans. The Nature Levy is not a tool for ecological recovery: it is a licence to kill nature, with no evidence to suggest this would in any way help our economy.”

Further, the Office for Environmental Protection, in its advice to the government dated 2 May 2025, concluded that:

“In our considered view, the bill would have the effect of reducing the level of environmental protection provided for by existing environmental law. As drafted, the provisions are a regression. This is particularly so for England’s most important wildlife – those habitats and species protected under the Habitats Regulations".

On the flip-side, there are indications that the changes proposed by the Bill are being received positively amongst international developers, including amongst multinational enterprises with a view to invest in the UK.

Striking the balance between environmental concerns and pushing for development is not something new, but this conflict appears to go to the very heart of the Bill. It will be interesting to see how this conflict is resolved if/when the Bill is to be made law.

Nature Restoration Fund - Phases

In related news, the government has recently published a factsheet covering 5 key phases of the nature restoration fund:

1. Framing the EDP – EDPs will define the environmental impacts they cover, such as nutrient pollution or the impact development might have on a protected species. EDPs will be spatially specific with clear maps setting out where development is covered by an EDP and what scale of development the EDP can support.
2. Designing the measures – EDPs will set out the suite of conservation measures that will be deployed to more than address the impact of development across a given area. For example, an EDP covering nutrient pollution will set out how the combined effect of the conservation measures will go beyond the current expectations of nutrient neutrality and lead to an improvement in water quality.
3. Setting the levy rate – A simple charging schedule, sufficient to cover the costs of the conservation measures, will be payable by developers to meet the relevant legal obligation associated with the impacts addressed by the EDP.
4. Consultation and approval – in developing an EDP, Natural England will benefit from views captured through consultation before the EDP is submitted to the Secretary of State for approval. When considering the EDP, the Secretary of State will be bound by a new legal test to ensure that the conservation measures outweigh the negative effect of development.
5. Delivering on the EDP – once the EDP is in place, Natural England will the necessary powers to use funds collected to implement the conservation measures. They will then monitor the impact of the measures to ensure they are working as expected and make any amendments to the EDP that may be necessary.

The Public Bill Committee is expected to provide its report to the House of Commons by Thursday 22 May 2025. We will provide a further update on the Bill in due course.