The government has confirmed that it will be overhauling rules to stop “blockers” using the courts to delay infrastructure projects to accelerate its Plan for Change with the construction of nuclear plants, trainlines and windfarms and set out reforms to prevent the delay of building homes.
Current rules mean “unarguable” cases can be brought back to the courts by Not In My Back Yarders (NIMBYs) three times – causing years of delay and hundreds of millions of cost to projects that have been approved by democratically elected ministers, while also clogging up the courts.
Data shows that 58% of all decisions on major infrastructure were taken to court, getting in the way of the government’s central mission to grow the economy.
The government has confirmed this will be overhauled, with just one attempt at legal challenge rather than three.
10 Downing Street stated that: “This approach will strike the right balance between ensuring ongoing access to justice and protections against genuine issues of propriety, while pushing back against a challenge culture where small pressure groups use the courts to obstruct decisions taken in the national interest.”
On average, each legal challenge takes around a year and a half to be resolved – with many delayed for two years or more – and the courts have spent over 10,000 working days handling these cases.
The government has also set out major reforms to end the block and delay to building homes and infrastructure from current environmental obligations.
A new Nature Restoration Fund would enable developers to meet their environmental obligations more quickly and with greater impact – accelerating the building of homes and improving the environment.
The government said: “The new common-sense approach doesn’t allow newts or bats to be more important than the homes hardworking people need.”
Commenting on the developments, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said: “For too long, blockers have had the upper hand in legal challenges – using our court processes to frustrate growth.
“We’re putting an end to this challenge culture by taking on the NIMBYs and a broken system that has slowed down our progress as a nation.
“This is the government’s Plan for Change in action – taking the brakes off Britain by reforming the planning system so it is pro-growth and pro-infrastructure.
“The current first attempt – known as the paper permission stage – will be scrapped. And primary legislation will be changed so that where a judge in an oral hearing at the High Court deems the case Totally Without Merit, it will not be possible to ask the Court of Appeal to reconsider. To ensure ongoing access to justice, a request to appeal second attempt will be allowed for other cases.”
