The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords. A key plank of Labour’s plans to “get Britain building”, the bill aims to cut red tape for developers and streamline approval processes needed before spades can get in the ground.

While it has been widely welcomed by the development sector, the proposal to relax nature protections has proved controversial among environmental campaigners and some backbench MPs. Under the original proposals, requirements for site-specific environmental improvements on schemes would be replaced by payments to a centralised nature restoration fund. This would allow Natural England to devise environmental delivery plans (EDPs), which would replace site-specific interventions with the intention of avoiding excessive delays.

No doubt seeking to avoid a repeat of the backbench rebellions on welfare seen in recent months, the government has now amended the bill to strengthen EDPs. To explain the potential implications of this move, Building asked a planning lawyer and an environmental lawyer to give their views on what the amendents could mean for development.

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