Starmer vows to curb ‘NIMBY’ legal blocks on infrastructure | Global News Avenue

The government has promised that large infrastructure projects such as nuclear power stations, rail lines and wind farms will be built more quickly under new planning rules.

Chancellor Sir Keir Starmer has said “blockers” of major Nimby (Not in My Backyard) infrastructure projects will have less chance of “holding back growth” through repeated legal challenges.

Currently, infrastructure plans can be challenged in court up to three times – ministers intend to reduce this to once in most cases.

Tory shadow secretary Kevin Hollinglake accused Labor of “advancing the Tory initiative” but warned their efforts would fail unless they stopped “blocking our efforts to cut the legacy red tape in the EU”.

The government says existing rules mean projects approved by elected officials could be delayed for years and incur hundreds of millions of pounds in extra costs.

Opponents of plans currently have three opportunities to gain permission for judicial review of major infrastructure projects in England and Wales: writing to the High Court, attending an oral hearing and appealing to the Court of Appeal.

Under the government’s proposals, the paper stage would be scrapped – meaning campaigners would have to convince judges in person.

Furthermore, any challenge that a High Court judge considers to be “completely without merit” cannot be brought to the Court of Appeal.

Scotland has its own legal and judicial review system.

Ministers said sweeping changes to the rules through the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill would send a strong signal to global companies looking to do business that the UK is a “great place to invest”.

Sir Keir said it was time to fix “a broken system that is slowing our country’s progress”.

“For too long, obstructionists have gained the upper hand in legal challenges – using our court processes to thwart economic growth,” he said.

“We are ending this culture of challenge by confronting Nimbi and a broken system that is slowing our country’s progress.”

Labor has put planning reform at the heart of its mission to drive economic growth and has pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes over five years.

During the election, Sir Keir was elected on a pledge to support “builders, not blockers” and pledged that Labor would prioritize infrastructure to boost growth and expand green energy.

The government has pledged to make decisions on 150 major infrastructure projects before the next election.

The latest announcement is as follows Review by planning solicitor Lord Charles Bannerwho suggested simplifying the judicial review process so that plaintiffs could “cut their losses” when seeking leave to bring proceedings.

The review found that around a third of applications for judicial review of major projects were rejected outright, although it was unclear how many were deemed “totally unfounded”.

Lord Banner welcomed the change, saying “reducing the number of license attempts in truly hopeless cases to one should weed out the worst offenders”.

“I look forward to seeing these changes help deliver a significant shift in the pace of infrastructure delivery over the coming months and years.”

According to the government, more than half of decisions on major national infrastructure projects go to court, causing delays of an average of 18 months and adding millions of dollars in costs.

Officers pointed to cases such as the approval of Sizewell C in Suffolk, where campaigners spent 16 months seeking permission for judicial review despite their case being described as “undisputed” at every stage .

However, only some of the grounds in Sizewell C were found to be “entirely without merit”, meaning the Court of Appeal may still reconsider the remaining grounds.

Responding to the government’s proposals, Hollinluck said: “While we welcome the government’s Tory moves to simplify the planning system, Labor has blocked our efforts to cut the EU’s legacy red tape, such as nutrition neutrality, so they can align more closely with The EU remains united. “The EU will stop the UK. “