Q&As

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These Q&As seek to briefly address common questions faced when dealing with planning matters.

The Q&As supplement and link to other more detailed content within Lexis+® UK, but are intentionally short. It is anticipated that a brief Q&A will be most helpful when you need a quick overview of an issue and its likely impact. This might arise, for example, for lawyers needing to provide advice, provide business development or training at short notice. The Q&A content on Lexis+® UK is date-stamped. This date is the publish date and ...

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Latest Planning News

Case Summary—Ross v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Renewa...

Planning analysis: On 19 May 2025, the High Court handed down its judgment in Ross v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Renewable Energy Systems Ltd. The court confirmed that ‘overplanting’ in solar energy schemes may be justified for other reasons beyond the need to address solar panel degradation. The court’s interpretation of the National Policy Statement EN-3 provides necessary clarity and guidance on the practice of ‘overplanting’ for solar developments. Written by Sarah Fitzpatrick, head of Planning, partner; and Melissa Diaz, trainee solicitor at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025—Built environment aspects

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has published the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025—a ten-year plan aimed at increasing business investment across eight growth-driving sectors, following a consultation launched in October 2024. The Strategy is designed to streamline and accelerate investment processes for businesses, while providing greater certainty and stability for long-term decision-making. Key sector plans include the Clean Energy Industries and Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plans. The Clean Energy Industries Plan sets out an ambition to double investment in frontier clean energy industries—including onshore, offshore and floating offshore wind, nuclear fission, hydrogen, carbon capture usage and storage, and heat pumps—to over £30bn annually by 2035. The Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan outlines a target to increase annual business investment from £21bn to £39bn by 2035, focusing on six priority industries: automotive, aerospace, batteries, space, advanced materials and agri-tech. These plans are supported by the Industrial Strategy Zones Action Plan, which brings the Freeports and Investment Zones programmes together as Industrial Strategy Zones, aiming to support regional and national growth and attract over £50bn in private investment into high-potential city regions and industry clusters.

Greenhouse gas emissions under scrutiny in development consent order decision (R (Boswell) v Se...

Planning analysis: The Court of Appeal has dismissed the claimant’s appeal in which he sought a statutory judicial review of the Secretary of State (SoS)’s decision to grant permission for a gas power station with carbon capture and storage at Teeside. The appeal focused on three grounds, all concerned with the way the decision assessed and weighed in the balance the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the development. These had been acknowledged to be significant for environmental impact assessment (EIA) purposes and had been given significant weight in the planning balance. The first ground alleged an internal logical flaw in the SoS’s reasoning; the second alleged that the SoS had erred in her interpretation or application of a paragraph of the relevant National Policy Statement (NPS); and the third alleged that the SoS failed to reach a reasoned conclusion since she failed to assess the significance of the GHG emissions against a benchmark or other adequate means of contextualisation. All three grounds were rejected in decisive terms by the court. Written by Harriet Townsend KC, barrister, at Cornerstone Barristers.

Wild Justice files application for judicial review of Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Wild Justice, a conservation group, filed an application for judicial review in the High Court on 11 June 2025, challenging a claim made by the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, in April 2025 that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would not reduce environmental protections. Wild Justice argues that Rayner failed to provide a legal rationale for her statement and intends to challenge it on the grounds that it is either legally incorrect or irrational. The challenge, supported by a legal opinion from expert planning barristers, contends that the Bill weakens existing environmental protections by removing the requirement to prove—beyond reasonable scientific doubt—that a proposed development will not adversely affect a protected site. The Office for Environmental Protection, named as an interested party in the claim, has also criticised the Bill, describing it as a ‘regression’ for environmental protections in law.

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