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A new amendment to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill will stop planning permissions from being timed if blocked by legal challenges.

Currently, housing developers can find themselves having to start the planning process all over again from the beginning if they find themselves tied up in the courts for too long. In a bid to accelerate house-building, the new amendment to the bill that is going through parliament will mean stalled schemes will not have to go back to square one.

The measure is one of a raft of amendments produced by the government to 鈥榞et Britain building鈥�.

Ministers will also get new powers to issue 鈥榟olding directions鈥� to prevent applications being rejected by local councils while they consider using call-in powers to decide whether or not they should be approved. According to the government, some councils are dragging their feet, with nearly 900 major housing schemes blocked in the past year alone.聽聽聽

Housing secretary Steve Reed said: 鈥淏ritain鈥檚 potential has been shackled by governments unwilling to overhaul the stubborn planning system that has erected barriers to building at every turn. It is simply not true that nature has to lose for economic growth to succeed.

聽 鈥淪luggish planning has real world consequences. Every new house blocked deprives a family of a home. Every infrastructure project that gets delayed blocks someone from a much-needed job. This will now end.聽聽聽

聽鈥淭he changes we are making today will strengthen the seismic shift already underway through our landmark Bill. We will 鈥楤uild, baby, build鈥� with 1.5 million new homes and communities that working people desperately want and need.鈥�

Not everyone is impressed. Roger Mortlock, chief executive of countryside charity CPRE (formerly the Council for the Preservation of Rural England), said: 鈥淭hese eleventh hour amendments to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill represent a dangerous erosion of democracy. They are an astounding capitulation to the same big developers that have consistently failed to deliver the homes people need.聽

鈥淭he housing secretary claims that sluggish planning has 鈥榬eal world consequences鈥�. So too would the removal of vital legal safeguards. Blocking judges from halting approvals while legal challenges proceed would allow unlawful projects to cause irreversible damage to communities, wildlife and the wider environment.

鈥淕iving ministers powers to override local council rejections further strips communities of their voice in decisions that affect their areas, as does restricting access to judicial review.聽

鈥淐PRE's research shows there is enough brownfield land in England for more than 1.4 million new homes. It鈥檚 possible to build the affordable and sustainable homes people need while still protecting the countryside and nature. What's required isn't the removal of democratic safeguards, but a shake-up of our broken housing market and proper investment in a planning system that works for communities, not just big developers.鈥�

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