New guidelines announced by the Government, in the form of Strategic Policy Statements, will give Natural England and the Environment Agency – the two most powerful environmental regulators – a mandate to prioritise outcomes over process, speeding up decision-making while maintaining high environmental standards according to law firm Michelmores.

A new Infrastructure Unit will keep major projects on track, tackling planning problems as they emerge, with the most complex issues passed to the Defra Infrastructure Board for further scrutiny. Moreover, a new Development Industry Council will bring developers and government together in the spring to discuss practical solutions to planning challenges. 

Fergus Charlton, planning partner at Michelmores, said: “Speeding up decision making is always welcomed by developers. The ability to navigate a route between the two regulators' statutory duty driven preferred outcomes and the developer's preferred outcome will be critical to the success of this initiative.”

It will be backed by £100m in funding, spread over three years, to fund specialist staff and modern digital systems, so regulators can help developers to complete environmental assessments more quickly and accurately – cutting costly delays.