Planning

Recent Articles

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  30/06/2025

  United Kingdom

  Re-working EIA: New Guidelines for Assessing Downstream GHG Emissions in Offshore Projects

  IntroductionThe Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (“DESNZ”) has published its supplementary guidance setting out how developers are to assess downstream greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions in Environmental Impact Assessments (“EIA”) for offshore oil and gas projects. Following the UK Supreme Court’s decision in R (on the application of Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group) v Surrey County Council and others[1], (“Finch”) in August 2024, the UK Government announced a pause on approving new projects until guidance in line with Finch...

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  30/05/2025

  England and Wales

  Government confirms mandatory biodiversity net gain for NSIPs from May 2026 – consultation now open

  The Government has announced its intention to introduce mandatory biodiversity net gain (“BNG”) for nationally significant infrastructure projects (“NSIPs”) from May 2026 – six months later than the originally anticipated implementation date of November 2025. The Government consultation is now open for responses until 24 July 2025.This development forms part of a broader suite of reforms aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning system, including the measures proposed in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (as summarised in our article here)...

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  28/05/2025

  United Kingdom

  Department of Energy Security & Net Zero consults on community benefits schemes and shared ownership models for low carbon energy in­fra­struc­ture

  On 21 May 2025, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) published a working paper outlining significant proposed reforms to introduce mandatory Community Benefits schemes and Shared Ownership models for low carbon energy infrastructure across England, Wales, and Scotland. The proposals, currently under consultation, are applicable for both the Town and Country Planning Act regime and the Planning Act regime. These proposals are expected to have wide-ranging implications for developers, investors, local authorities, community organisations, and other stakeholders. Early engagement...

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  09/05/2025

  United Kingdom

  PFAS in soils: con­sid­er­a­tions for landowners and developers

  PFAS are hardly out of the news at the moment and awareness of PFAS risks is growing. In the UK, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has launched an inquiry into whether enough is being done to address the risks of PFAS, which will include consideration of whether the current regulatory regime is fit for purpose.  A report for the Environment Agency has identified up to 10,000 “high risk” PFAS contaminated sites in England. In this article, we look at PFAS impacts in soils and the associated legal risks to landowners, developers and lenders and consider the practical steps...

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  10/04/2025

  England and Wales

  UK announces sweeping regulatory reforms, including environmental and planning overhaul

  The UK government has proposed sweeping reforms to the UK’s regulatory structures and processes which will affect sectors such as aviation, consumer protection, data protection energy, environment and planning, finance, healthcare, health and safety, pensions and technology.The reforms have been published in a government policy paper: New approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth (the “New Approach Paper”) with aims to ‘overhaul’ the regulatory system so that it supports growth, is targeted, proportionate, transparent, predictable and adapts to keep...

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  07/04/2025

  England and Wales

  The Planning and In­fra­struc­ture Bill – Nature Recovery and the Nature Restoration Fund

  The Planning and Infrastructure Bill (the Bill) was introduced to Parliament in March, after having been first announced in the King’s speech in July 2024. The Bill is part of the Government’s wider planning reform programme and aims to “speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure”. We have summarised the key provisions of the Bill in our article here.Part 3 of the Bill turns to ‘Development and Nature Recovery’. The provisions are complex and introduce a major step-change in how developers must mitigate the environmental effects...

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