Documents to download

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill has been through its House of Lords stages. In the Lords the government made 69 amendments which were agreed. One government amendment was voted down. Opposition amendments, including those not supported by government, were also successful. Lords amendments will be considered in the Commons on 13 November 2025.

The key amendments made by government included:

  • substantive changes to Part 3 on development and nature recovery
  • revising Natural England’s remit in providing advice to public bodies,
  • a new clause on ‘Projects related to water’,
  • NSIP procedural changes,
  • having regard to heritage in Transport Works Act Orders,
  • taking account of delays due to legal challenges where planning permission has been granted, and
  • clarifying the relationship between Development Corporations where they overlap.

The government made substantive amendments to part 3 of the bill to clarify how the new environmental delivery plans (EDPs) would be designed and consulted on, including taking into account best scientific evidence, prioritising onsite over offsite measures, strengthening the overall improvement test and including provisions for remedial actions should EDPs fail to deliver environmental improvements.  

In response to stakeholder concerns that the mitigation hierarchy would be disapplied for EDPs, the government also amended the bill at third reading to require regulations setting out how EDPs would prioritise addressing the negative effect of developments. 

The Lords voted down a government amendment to amend a holding order which would be used when a planning application was considered for call-in by the Secretary of State. The proposed amendment to the holding order would mean a local planning authority would be unable to determine the application rather than being unable to grant permission.

In terms of opposition amendments, for part 1 of the bill the government supported amendments made by Lord Lansley and Lord Parkinson to the new clause on ‘Projects relating to water’. For part 3 of the bill amendments 163A and 163B were supported by the government and would allow developers to request to contribute to the Nature Recovery Fund (NRF) and be covered by an EDP after development had commenced. 

The following opposition amendments were not supported by the government and were agreed on division:

  • In part 1 of the bill, amendment 7b would address demolition of villages for projects related to water. Amendment 3 would re-instate the requirement for requirement for the government to reply to any resolutions by Parliament or recommendations from a select committee for changes to National Policy Statements. Amendment 55 would require electric vehicle charge points to take account of accessibility and design requirements for people with disabilities. Amendment 56 would introduce a new clause on deregulation of low hazard reservoirs.
  • In part 2 of the bill, amendment 63 would require that the first introduction of regulations for a national scheme of delegation be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. Amendment 87D would introduce a new clause on to protect assets of community value from demolition under permitted development rights. Amendment 94 would require spatial development strategies to protect and enhance chalk stream environments. Amendment 96 would require spatial development strategies to prioritise brownfield development and urban intensification.
  • In part 3 of the bill, amendment 130 would restrict the application of EDPs to address landscape scale environmental issues (nutrient neutrality, water quality, water resource or air quality).

There were no successful opposition amendments for parts 4 and 5 of the bill.

The House of Lords amendments are compiled in Bill 328 24-26 Lords Amendments [PDF].

The Commons Library also has the following publications about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill:

Documents to download

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