Guidance

Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: development consent legislation

Published 1 January 2012

Applies to England and Wales

The domestic legislation that governs the Planning Act 2008 process can be viewed at legislation.gov.uk. It includes:

• Primary legislation – including the Planning Act 2008 and the subsequent Acts of Parliament that have amended its content, such as The Localism Act 2011
• Secondary legislation – Rules, Regulations and Commencement Orders etc

European legislation affecting the Planning Act 2008 can be viewed at eur-lex.europa.eu.

Important notice to users of legislation.gov.uk: Where new legislation has the effect of amending or repealing provisions in extant legislation, there may be some significant delay between the coming into force of the new affecting legislation and the affected provisions being updated in the amended legislation. To understand whether the legislation you are viewing is up to date or if there are changes (such as effects or amendments) that have not yet been applied to it please ensure you follow the most recent advice about current legislation on legislation.co.uk. Alternatively you may wish to refer to a commercial service that promptly provides updates to affected legislation with all amendments incorporated.   

1. Primary legislation

Planning Act 2008 (received Royal Assent 26 November 2008)

The primary legislation which established the legal framework for applying for, examining and determining applications for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects; taking into account the National Policy Statements.

As amended by the:

• Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009
• the Localism Act 2011
• the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013
• the Infrastructure Act 2015
• the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and the Wales Act 2017
• the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023

Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (received Royal Assent 12 November 2009)

The primary legislation which, amongst other matters, amends certain provisions of the Planning Act 2008 including sections 42 and 104. It also repeals sections 148 and 149 and inserts a new section 149A.

Localism Act 2011 (received Royal Assent 15 November 2011)

The Localism Act 2011 abolished the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) and transferred the decision-making powers of the IPC to the Secretary of State. The Localism Act also makes a number of amendments to the Planning Act 2008 which have the effect of altering some aspects of the procedure for seeking development consent for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 (received Royal Assent 25 April 2013)

The Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 makes provision, amongst other things, in connection with facilitating or controlling the provision or use of infrastructure, the carrying-out of development and the Compulsory Acquisition of land and rights.

The Infrastructure Act 2015 (received Royal Assent 12 February 2015)

The Infrastructure Act 2015 makes provision, amongst other things, to change the timing of the appointment of the Examining Authority, provides for two-person Panels and amends the process for changes to, and revocation of, Development Consent Orders.

The Housing and Planning Act 2016 (received Royal Assent 12 May 2016)

The Housing and Planning Act 2016 makes provision about housing, estate agents, rent charges, planning and compulsory purchase. Section 160 of the Housing and Planning Act amends s115 of the Planning Act 2008 to allow an element of housing to be included as part of the development for which development consent may be granted.

The Wales Act 2017 (received Royal Assent 31 January 2017)

The Wales Act 2017 amends the Government of Wales Act 2006 by moving to a reserved powers model for Wales. The Wales Act devolves powers to the Welsh Government for areas including consenting for new energy projects, fracking, marine licensing and harbours. The effect of these provisions is to disapply the Secretary of State’s power under the Planning Act 2008 to grant development consent for all electricity generating stations in Wales and in Welsh territorial waters insofar as such projects (not including onshore wind powered generating stations) do not exceed a capacity of 350MW; and for all onshore wind powered generating stations. It also allows for certain ‘Associated Development’ in Wales to be consented under the Planning Act 2008.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023)

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 makes provision, amongst other things, to:

• enable regulations to set fees for certain services in relation to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (s126)
• provide the Secretary of State the power to shorten the deadline for examination of development consent order applications (s127)
• enable the Secretary of State to make provisions in relation to non-material changes to development consent orders (s128)

2. Secondary legislation

Secondary legislation governing the Planning Act 2008 process can be viewed at legislation.gov.uk.

Where secondary legislation is referred to in government guidance about the Planning Act 2008 process, or in the Planning Inspectorate’s suite of advice notes, a direct link to the relevant instrument on legislation.gov.uk is usually provided.

Some of the instruments most commonly referred to in the above advice and guidance are:

• the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009
• the Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010
• the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017
• the Infrastructure Planning (Interested Parties and Miscellaneous Prescribed Provisions) Regulations 2015
• the Infrastructure Planning (Fees) Regulations 2010

This is not an exhaustive list of the secondary legislation governing the Planning Act 2008 process. See legislation.gov.uk for the full suite of instruments.