March 2025

Government publishes Planning and Infrastructure Bill – what this means for Development & Nature Recovery

Government is seeking radical reform to the planning system to include how ecological issues are addressed as part of planning applications. The current system, while generally robust, takes a considerable time to successfully navigate, such that economic development is significantly throttled as a result. The government is seeking to unlock the process through a new approach, including in relation to ecological matters.

This is centred around the formation of Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs), to be developed by Natural England, as an attractive option for developers to utilise to satisfy their obligations when pursuing developments that would impact on features protected by the Habitats Regulations, Wildlife and Countryside Act or the Protection of Badgers Act. EDPs would be supported by the creation of a Nature Restoration Fund that developers would contribute to (via a levy) in lieu of carrying out on site measures to conserve protected species that may be present. The recent Budget allocated £14 million to the Nature Restoration Fund in the next financial year, but its steady state operation will be on a full cost recovery basis. Measures are expected to be brought forward to unlock issues currently curtailing development, such as nutrient neutrality.

It is also expected that the approach will seek to evolve and take forward current initiatives such as the alternative protected species licensing option of District Licensing, utilised for Great Crested Newts, and extend this to include other protected species. If a similar model utilised for District Licensing for Great Crested Newt is followed, then the need for survey work in respect of other protected species may be able to be reduced or avoided altogether, which could provide a significant time saving in terms of preparatory work required before submitting an application. Where an EDP relates to a protected species, payment of the levy would result in a developer being treated as having been granted a licence under regulation 55 of the Habitats Regulations, section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 or section 10 of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, with that licence granted subject to any relevant terms set out in the EDP.

In designing conservation measures, Natural England will give consideration to the lifespan of the development and so the period over which conservation measures need to be secured and managed.

Akin to District Licences, EDPs would be area based and specify particular types and amounts of development that they can cover. Once the threshold for the amount of development allowed under the EDP is reached, unless the EDP is amended to accommodate additional development, new development will no longer be able to rely upon the EDP

Specifically, the draft bill includes several safeguards including an ‘overall improvement test’. The test requires the Secretary of State only to pass an EDP if ‘the conservation measures are likely to be sufficient to outweigh the negative effect, caused by environmental impact caused by development, on the conservation status of each identified environmental feature’. EDPs will also include back-up measures that can be deployed if monitoring shows the environmental outcomes are not being achieved.

Funds from EDPs will be pooled to deliver conservation measures at scale to maximise the outcome for the environment whilst securing secondary benefits like public access to green spaces. At the same time, developers will benefit from a streamlined process and simplified user experience.

At the present time, the Bill proposes the current regime of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) would be unaffected and continue to operate in its existing form.

The Bill is currently at its second reading stage and will then continue its passage through the parliamentary review process. Progress of the Bill can be tracked here.

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