UK announces sweeping regulatory reforms, including environmental and planning overhaul

The UK government has proposed sweeping reforms to the UK’s regulatory structures and processes which will affect sectors such as aviation, consumer protection, data protection energy, environment and planning, finance, healthcare, health and safety, pensions and technology.

The reforms have been published in a government policy paper: New approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth (the “New Approach Paper”) with aims to ‘overhaul’ the regulatory system so that it supports growth, is targeted, proportionate, transparent, predictable and adapts to keep pace with innovation. Regulated sectors and businesses will welcome in particular goals to reduce the complexity and burden of regulations, including by cutting administrative costs by 25%, as well as commitments to regulating only where necessary and allowing ‘space for discretion and good behaviour’. Annex A to the Paper also includes pledges by a set of key regulators that are responsible for delivering and monitoring the impacted regulatory frameworks, to develop measures which are implementable within the next 12 months.

The New Approach Paper comes hot on the heels of similar announcements at the EU level, including most recently its so-called ‘Omnibus’ simplifications package (see our article here: Omnibus published: European Commission proposes significant amendments).

In this note, we concentrate on the changes in the planning and environmental sectors - the UK Government is already making good in these areas with the launch of a consultation to ‘slash business red tape’ in the environmental permitting process, on which see further below. 

Planning

The New Approach Paper recognises that the planning system is overwhelmed with the burden of regulation and red tape whilst lacking certainty and consistency.

The suggested proposals, set out in more detail below, aim to make the planning system more flexible, coherent and innovation-friendly. This will support new infrastructure and development, whilst still protecting the natural environment and local communities. The Government intends for these reforms to allow the planning system to function as effectively and efficiently as possible, driving investment and growth.

Environmental

The New Approach Paper also heavily focuses on environmental regulation, recognising its importance and the need for substantial reform; it is notably steadfast in its view that the environment regulatory system is ‘not fit for purpose’ in driving nature recovery or economic growth, whilst also lacking a strong link to the targets imposed under the Environment Act 2021 and imposing unnecessary, increasing costs on business. The Government hope to utilise the proposed reforms and, if necessary, legislation to improve the effectiveness of environmental regulation.

It is clear that environmental regulation is at the heart of the government’s proposed reforms, with the reforms stating that, as an initial step, the Secretary of State for the Environment is willing to use his powers of direction to implement the reform of a single lead regulator for major projects. The Secretary of State intends to instruct various regulators such as Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Marine Management Organisation to work alongside the designated lead regulator, in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, in carrying out their functions for major projects in a timely manner.

Environmental Permitting Reform: It is welcome news that the proposed reforms are already moving forward, with the Environment Minister commencing an eight-week consultation on 8 April 2025 for reforming environmental permitting regulations. The consultation focuses on reforming the process for exemptions, including granting new permitting exemptions for certain flood risk activities, greater flexibility around the use of scaffolding on or alongside rivers, changes to exemptions abused by rouge waste operators and ensuring effective, stringent safeguards. The proposals aim to make permitting more agile and responsible.

Proposed Reforms

Given the context above, some of the specific, and wide-ranging, planning and environmental regulatory reforms proposed include:

• Streamlining Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (“NSIP”) by easing environmental permit and licence requirements for low-risk activities within the planning and environmental processes.
   
• The development of a model to support the sustainable funding and resourcing of statutory consultees in the general planning system. Reforming the system of statutory consultees. There will be an increased focus on growth with a consultation signalled for spring 2025 on the impact of removing some statutory consultees and/or reducing their scope. Local planning authorities will only be required to consult statutory consultees where really necessary together with the setup of a new performance framework to monitor performance. The Government also intends to allow statutory consultees to recover costs for advice. More details of this will be released by the Government in the following weeks.
   
• Streamlining the delivery of major water projects. DEFRA will amend the Special Infrastructure Projects Regulations to allow major water projects to be delivered quicker and with better taxpayer value.
   
• Removing complexity and tidying red tape across environmental permitting. This will be done by streamlining NSIPs and easing environmental permit and licence requirements for low-risk activities within the planning process.
   
• Launching a suite of new initiatives to support priority sectors such as protecting water, land, and air quality and regulating industry and waste, climate change, green growth and creating a sustainable future. This includes creating a new priority tracked service to allow developers to work with a dedicated team on their permits and track progress. This will result in quicker timeframes and more flexible decision-making.
   
• Consulting on reforms to permitting legislation that will enable regulators to be more agile in making sensible decisions on which low-risk activities should be exempt from environmental permits. Removing unnecessary requirements will encourage innovation and investment, and allow regulators to focus on high-impact, high-priority areas, including low-carbon infrastructure. This consultation opened on 8 April 2025.
   
• Consulting in June on a package of reforms to modernise permitting for the industrial and energy sectors. This will include streamlining outdated guidance to support investment; and enabling proportionate and risk-based regulation of new technologies in support of Net Zero and a circular economy.
   
• Appointing a single lead regulator for major projects. This would mean that where multiple regulators all have an interest in a single project, a lead environmental regulator will be appointed to make decisions on their behalf. This will support better cooperation between the different environmental regulators as well as reducing the number of layers of regulation – in effect creating a “single front door” for major projects. This model is proposed to be tested on a series of projects, with the New Approach Paper giving examples such as the Lower Thames Crossing and the future Heathrow expansion.
   
• Rapidly reviewing and rewriting the existing catalogue of environmental compliance guidance so that it is fit for purpose, removing any duplication, ambiguity and inconsistency. Guidance should help businesses navigate regulatory requirements, not add additional complexity. This will include Natural England revising their standing advice to Local Planning Authorities on bats and removing the reference to the Bat Conservation Trust.
   
• Accelerating responses to planning applications by the Environment Agency as a statutory consultee, by bringing performance back within the 21-day target by September 2025. This will be supported by investment in the development of modernised, fit for purpose digital systems and enhancing digital services.
   
• Partnering with the Office for Investment to attract investment in priority sectors, identifying key investment opportunities for priority sectors, with the Environment Agency being required to provide early advice to support planning and environmental permitting.
   
• Upgrading digital systems for planning advice and exploring the establishment of a single planning portal for all environmental agencies.

Conclusion

The New Approach Paper is ambitious and plans to encourage investment and growth from businesses by reforming the UK’s regulatory system, particularly in the areas of overlap between environmental regulation and consenting for major development projects. It proposed to do this by tackling what it considers to be red tape and burdensome, counterproductive regulation. It is clear that this is seen as being pivotal to growing confidence and efficiency in the regulatory system. However, it also means that regulators will have to step up to the challenge and work with the Government to implement these proposed reforms. The Government acknowledge that this be no easy feat and that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) will play a crucial role in driving the reforms forward.

This article was co-authored by: Rebecca Roffe, Sinéad Oryszczuk, Olivia Jamison and Sophie Lee.