Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner warned there is “no time to waste” as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill returns to Parliament for its second reading today. 

Labour says the legislation is needed to deliver on its promise of creating 1.5 million homes.

The reforms include:

• Overhauling the planning decision process to set out which applications can be determined by officers and which by committee to speed up approvals.
• Creating a Nature Restoration Fund to help builders meet environmental obligations.
• Strengthening the compulsory purchase process to acquire land for projects that are in the public interest and ensure compensation paid to landowners is not excessive.
• Granting additional powers to development corporations to facilitate large-scale developments and new towns.
• Reducing the consultation process for approving major infrastructure such as reservoirs, windfarms, roads and railway lines.
• Prioritising approved clean energy projects for grid connections with a “first ready, first connected” system.
• Limiting the number of times that government decisions on major infrastructure projects can be legally challenged.
• Rewarding people who live near new electricity transmission sites with up to £2,500 off their energy bills over 10 years.

Rayner says: “We have no time to waste in bringing the housing crisis we’ve inherited to an end, not only for those struggling to get onto the housing ladder but for the families and young children who are stuck in temporary accommodation. 

“That’s why it is so crucial that we get Britain building and the return of the landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Parliament today represents another step forward in achieving this goal.

“But to ensure we can prove the naysayers wrong, and deliver on our Plan for Change target to build the 1.5 million homes and crucial infrastructure this country needs, we need to make our planning reforms law as quickly as possible. 

“This is why today I am urging Parliament to back this Bill and ensure we can deliver the change so many people want to see.”