The Planning Inspectorate published guidance for local planning authorities on preparing housing land supply evidence for local plans in England. The guidance explains how authorities should identify and evidence housing sites expected to come forward over the lifetime of a local plan, including sites expected to deliver homes within the first five years after adoption and longer-term development locations.

The Planning Inspectorate has published guidance on serving notice to other landowners for planning, householder, minor commercial and listed building consent appeals in England. The guidance explains that, where the appellant is not the sole owner of the appeal site, they must notify any other landowners and any tenant of an agricultural holding of the appeal during the 21-day period before the appeal is submitted. It sets out three scenarios for serving notice, depending on whether the appellant knows the names and addresses of all, some or none of the relevant landowners or tenants, including requirements for personal service, delivery by post or email, or publication of the notice in a local newspaper.

The Planning Inspectorate has published a collection of templates for local planning authorities to provide housing land supply evidence at local plan examinations under the legacy system. The templates are intended to help authorities present evidence consistently during examination. The Planning Inspectorate states that authorities should aim to complete a separate template for each proposed residential allocation in the plan, as well as for any non-allocated sites expected to contribute to the five-year supply. For non-major housing sites with planning permission expected to form part of that supply, authorities may provide information in summary form using the small sites summary template.

The Planning Inspectorate’s Chief Executive, Paul Morrison, has written to the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, in response to his letter of 27 November 2025 regarding the abolition of the Duty to Co-operate. Paul Morrison welcomes the government’s intention to abolish the Duty for the current plan-making system and confirms that Inspectors have already begun dialogue with local authorities with plans at examination.

The Planning Inspectorate has updated its procedural guide for planning appeals relating to applications dated on or before 31 March 2026, with a rewrite of section 3.4.1. The revised wording requires appellants to notify any person who, 21 days before the appeal is submitted, is an owner or agricultural tenant of any part of the appeal site. This replaces the previous requirement to inform all other landowners or tenants of agricultural holdings with an interest in the land. The update also states that notice must be given within the 21-day period before an appeal is made. It removes the statement that notice may be served on the day of submission and the explanation that the process is known as serving notice. The final guidance-reference sentence is unchanged.

The Planning Inspectorate has published updated guidance on working with public bodies in the infrastructure planning process, incorporating changes from the Infrastructure Planning (Fees) Amendment Regulations 2024. The regulations enable Natural Resources Wales and other statutory consultees to recover costs for advice provided on Development Consent Order applications. The guidance contains three annexes covering Natural Resources Wales, the Marine Management Organisation, and Natural England, detailing their roles in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) process.

The Planning Inspectorate has updated several of its advice pages on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) on account of changes to the planning regime introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (PIA 2025). The changes include removing references to the now former requirement for applicants to carry out consultation prior to applying for planning permission, and the withdrawal or amendment of several related procedural guides. In light of broader changes made by PIA 2025, the Planning Inspectorate states that additional amendments to guidance will be made in the coming months following a more detailed review of the currently available materials.

The Planning Inspectorate has updated eight nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) advice pages in response to amendments to the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (PIA 2025), which came into force on 24 July 2026. These updates reflect key changes to the NSIP process and remove references to the now-obsolete statutory requirement for applicants to carry out pre-application consultation. Two advice pages were withdrawn entirely: (1) the advice on the consultation report and (2) the advice on the process for rights of entry to land under PA 2008, s 53. Advice note 7 on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and advice note 9 on the Rochdale envelope were also both withdrawn and replaced by a new consolidated pre-application EIA advice page. The remaining updated pages include advice on the preparation and submission of application documents, advice for local authorities, guidance on people and organisations involved in the NSIP process, information on the stages of the NSIP process and how to have your say and advice on example documents.

The Planning Inspectorate has updated five Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) non-statutory advice pages to reflect, on an initial basis, changes to the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) process introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (PIA 2025). The updated pages cover: (1) land interests under PA 2008, s 52; (2) good design; (3) linear project applications; (4) working with public bodies and (5) post-acceptance application changes. A further detailed review of the advice page collection will commence from summer 2026 to fully align content with the amended legal framework.

The Planning Inspectorate has updated its guidance on procedures for considering objections to definitive map and public path orders in England to clarify the requirements for proof of evidence and reflect changes to its site visit policy. Proofs of evidence should ideally not exceed 3,000 words and should focus on matters in dispute rather than rehearse all available evidence. Where a proof of evidence, or a statement of case used in its place, exceeds 1,500 words, parties must provide a proportionate summary of no more than 1,500 words for presentation at the inquiry. Witnesses remain subject to cross-examination on the full evidence. For cases handled through written representations, Inspectors will assess the available evidence to decide whether a site visit is necessary. A visit may not be required where written evidence provides sufficient information to determine the case. Where a visit is necessary, it will usually be unaccompanied.

The Planning Inspectorate has published updated fee charges for nationally significant infrastructure projects, effective from 1 April 2025. The revised structure includes pre-application service tiers ranging from £63,410 to £212,400 per year, an £8,946 application fee, and pre-examination fees from £25,895 for a single inspector to £85,646 for panels of more than three inspectors. The update also establishes new initial and final payment rates for application handling, with final payments ranging from £2,450 to £8,128 per relevant day depending on the number of inspectors. The guidance applies to England and Wales, with fees for authorisation requests under sections 52 and 53 of the Planning Act 2008 set at £1,991.

On 27 December 2024, the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) had updated its rights of way booklet Guidance on procedures for considering objections to definitive map and public path orders.