LONDON, July 27 -- The government of the United Kingdom issued the following news:
Variousamendments to the Planning Act 2008 introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 came into force on 24 July 2026. These amendments affect the process of applying for, and making representations about, applications fornationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs).Government has published guidance which explains and supports the changes on itsNational Infrastructure Planning Guidance Portal.
Updated advice
At the Planning Inspectoratewe publish advice pages about running the infrastructure planning process which are drawn from experience and good practice.Our advice pages are non-statutory, but to ensure the system runs effectively, applicants and others are encouraged to follow our recommendations. Our advicepagesareintended tocomplementthe legislation and guidance issued by government.
Responding to theprocess changesintroduced on 24 July 2026, we havemade updates toseveralofour NSIP advice pages,onan initialbasis,to reflect some of the key changes to the Planning Act 2008 process.Theseinitialupdatesinclude, amongst other things,the removal ofreferences to the obsolete statutory requirement for applicants to carry out pre-application consultation.
The following advice pageswereupdatedon27 July 2026:
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Advice on the consultation report (withdrawn)
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Advice on the preparation and submission of application documents (including new arrangements for the submission of NSIP applicationsthrough the 'Apply for and manageyourinfrastructure project' site)
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Advice for local authorities
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Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: People and organisations involved in the process
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Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: The stages of the NSIP process and how you can have your say
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Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: Advice on the process for rights of entry to land (under section 53 of the Planning Act 2008) (withdrawn)
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Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: Pre-application advice on Environmental Impact Assessment(replacingAdvice note7:Environmental Impact Assessment: Process,preliminary environmental information andenvironmental statements and Advice note 9: Rochdale envelope, which are bothwithdrawn)
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Advice on example documents
Other affected advice pages, including theremaining pages in theAdvice on environmental matters collection, will besubject toan initialupdateduring August 2026.
We are undertaking a further detailed review of our NSIP advice page collectionfromthis summer to fullyalign our published advice with the amended legaland guidanceframework. All future updates will be published on our GOV.UK pages.You can sign up for alerts when changes are made viathe GOV UK pages.
Updatedpre-application services
The2024 Pre-application Prospectussets out our pre-application service offer forNSIPapplicants.
As a result of the changes to the process introduced on 24 July 2026, some features of the pre-application service offer set out in the2024 Pre-application Prospectusare obsolete.
We are undertaking pilots with some applicants to test updated and improved approaches to our pre-application services which align with government's policy aims. We expect to update the Prospectus to reflect the outcomes of these pilots and the amended legal and guidance framework by summer 2027.
Untilthose changes have been implemented, applicantsare still requestedtoengage our pre-application servicesby subscribing tooneof thethreeservice tiersdescribed in the2024 Pre-application Prospectus.The servicereceivedby applicants prior totheProspectusbeing updated will be adjusted to disapply the obsolete features.
If youare an applicant andhave any questions about the impact of these changes on the service you are receiving, please contact your assigned case manager orNIEnquiries@planninginspectorate.gov.uk.
Other informationto beupdated
Theprocess guide on the Find a National Infrastructure Project websitewill also be updated during this weekto reflect the changes.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
