Matthew Pennycook hails “fundamental change” as Planning and Infrastructure Bill approved by House of Commons

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was approved by MPs on Tuesday evening, following weeks of debate at committee and two days of debate in the Chamber.

The Bill underwent some minor changes in the committee stages: most notably the addition of government-backed clauses supporting additional planning fees to cover statutory consultee costs and a clause removing the requirement for NSIPs to engage in pre-application consultation

Despite the Liberal Democrats alone tabling 78 proposals, no opposition amendments to the Bill were accepted.

In his closing remarks, Matthew Pennycook claimed it was a “landmark bill” which would help “deliver on the promise of national renewal” by “fundamentally chang[ing] how we build things in this country”.

Whilst the Conservative and Liberal Democrat spokespersons both supported the need for new homes in their closing statements, both also criticised many of the specific measures within the Bill. Particularly, both representatives expressed concern that reforms to planning committees would make planning decisions less accountable, which risked “eroding trust in the planning system”, whilst also echoing sentiments from groups such as the National Trust that the Bill would act as a “licence to kill nature”.

Despite this opposition, the Bill was passed by 306 votes to 174, with every party aside from Labour voting against the Bill. It will now need to be approved by the House of Lords, though there is currently no published timescale for this.