Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has warned there is ‘no time to waste’ as she urged MPs to back key legislation to speed up the delivery of 1.5m homes and deliver infrastructure.

The rallying call was made ahead of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill returning for its Second Reading yesterday. 

Rayner told MPs: “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.”

Her de facto deputy, housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook, also told the Commons: “By streamlining the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure [the Bill] will help tackle the housing crisis and raise living standards in every part of the country.

“The Bill marks another decisive step toward a planning system that is pro-growth and pro-infrastructure and will deliver on our Plan for Change commitments to build 1.5 million homes and fast-track planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects in this Parliament.”

Key measures include:

• Overhauling planning decisions through a national scheme of delegation to set out which applications should be determined by officers and which should go to committee;

• Establishing a Nature Restoration Fund to allow builders can meet their environmental obligations faster;

• Strengthening the Compulsory Purchase process to acquire land for projects that are in the public interest and ensure compensation to landowners is not excessive;

• Giving additional powers to development corporations to make it easier when delivering large-scale developments, including the next generation of new towns;

• Reducing the consultation process when seeking approval for major infrastructure projects, including reservoirs, windfarms, roads and railway lines;

• Prioritising approved clean energy projects, such as wind and solar, for grid connections with a new ‘first ready, first connected’ system;

• Limiting the number of times that government decisions on major infrastructure projects can be legally challenged, with only one attempt for some cases;
• People living near new electricity transmission infrastructure will also receive up to £2,500 over 10 years off their energy bills.