Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to tackle “NIMBY” by reducing legal challenges to building infrastructure through a new approach to stop “salamanders and bats” from interfering with construction.
The Labor government has made growth one of its key objectives, with key plans in the strategy building new infrastructure such as roads and power stations.
Attempts to complete these projects in recent years have been bogged down by legal challenges that the government is trying to resolve.
NIMBY (not in my back yard) refers to people who oppose building in their area.
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Sir Keir Starmer “For too long, blockers have had the upper hand in legal matters. Court proceedings were used to thwart growth.
“We are putting an end to this culture of defiance by standing up to NIMBYs and the broken systems that are holding us back from progressing as a nation.
“This is the government’s plan for behavioral change – to put the brakes on the UK by reforming the planning system to make it more growth- and infrastructure-friendly.”
The government claims that more than 58% of all decisions on “critical infrastructure” end up in court. This “disrupts the government’s core mission to grow the economy.”
And it is said that it takes about a year and a half to solve each task.
As part of the government’s plans, so-called “uncontroversial cases” could be brought to court only once, rather than the three currently.
The first attempt, the ‘paper clearance stage’, will be scrapped and new laws will allow High Court judges to deem cases as ‘entirely without merit’, preventing appeals.
The government also said it wanted to “end blocks and delays to housing and infrastructure construction.” from current environmental obligations.“.
The government doesn’t want salamanders getting in the way of its plans. Photo: iStock
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Instead, a new “Nature Restoration Fund” would allow developers to pay into a central fund that would ensure environmental protection, rather than having each individual project undertake its own mitigation measures.
“The new common sense approach does not allow salamanders or bats to be more important than the homes hard-working people need or the roads and hospitals this country needs,” the government said.
The plan changes follow a review carried out last year by planning lawyer Lord Charles Banner, which recommended a streamlined system.
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Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative shadow equalization minister, said: “Whilst we welcome the Government moving forward with the Conservatives’ plans to streamline the planning system, Labor has blocked our efforts to cut existing bureaucracy in the EU, including: nutritional neutralSo they can work more closely with the European Union and keep Britain at bay.
“Labour ministers will also implement measures introduced by the Conservatives to cut bureaucracy and provide greater certainty for local residents and developers, scrapping and replacing hundreds of local councils and requiring all staff, including planning officers, to re-apply. I didn’t touch it. “There are few ways to accelerate business decision-making.”
