5 new planning laws developers, investors and landlords need to be aware of

The previous government spent much of its attention on planning legislation. The current government also seems obsessed with the planning system. The laws both have passed in recent years have covered a range of issues. They’ve introduced a raft of new laws from mandatory targets on affordable housing delivery to green belt reviews. Don’t hold your breath though because there are plenty more still coming down the pipe.

In this article, find out about the five new planning laws that affect investors, developers and landlords the most.

1. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

Most developments in England must now deliver at least 10% net gain in biodiversity. Biodiversity net gain (BNG) means you must make the habitat 10% better than it is today post-development. This applies to new housing, commercial buildings and other construction projects. BNG is mandatory, although there are a limited range of exemptions.

You can do this by either by creating new habitats at the site of your project or funding improvements off-site. If on-site or off-site delivery is not possible, you must buy statutory biodiversity credits as a last resort. For example, a wildflower meadow or native woodland planting would qualify.

You can’t just replace what the site potentially loses from your development. You must enhance the quality or quantity of wildlife habitats as part of getting planning approval. To work out whether it does, the local government uses the Statutory Biodiversity Metric in its assessments. Inspectors even have their own (macro-enabled Excel) calculator from Natural England to do the workings out for them.

Adoption dates for the regulations are:

Major schemes: 12 February 2024
Small sites: 2 April 2024
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: May 2026 (proposed, shifted from November 2025)

Unaffected by the new law are:

Householder works
Tiny projects with less than 25 m² habitat or 5 m of linear habitat.
Some self-build and custom-build projects

However, the exemption only applies if your project does not affect priority habitat. Priority habitat is a habitat listed as being “of principal importance”. This is under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. This is called the “de minimis” exemption. Always confirm exemption with the council before you start.

Submit your BNG after gaining planning permission. In your Biodiversity Gain Plan, describe the habitats as they are now. Then, describe the changes your project will bring and what the post-development BNG score must be.

You must gain Biodiversity Gain Plan approval from the local planning authority before the work starts. The LPA has around eight weeks to make its mind up. You must also show how you’ll manage the habitat for at least 30 years.

2. Grey belt development rules

“Grey belt” land can be green belt land that is previously developed land or “low quality” land.

According to Knight Frank, there have been prior developments on 11,000 sites, or less than 1% of green belt land. Around 40% of that total is in London. In green belt policy terms, the definition of “low quality” is green belt land that does little to prevent urban sprawl. Examples could be a derelict yard or a redundant car park: neither are likely to be shining examples of local green spaces. Any wider Green Belt boundary changes still require exceptional circumstances.

The new grey belt designation is part of the government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The government has set a national housing target of 1.5 million new homes before 2030. The purpose of the grey belt idea is to overcome the biggest problem with green belt laws. Namely, they can block homes on weak-performing land even where it’s well located.

The BBC interviewed Sam Stafford from the Home Builders Federation on the topic. He believes that, to hit the housing target, builders need to develop both brownfield land and grey belt land.

Knight Frank pointed out another potential issue. It may not be viable for builders to develop grey belt land because of:

Rising building and labour costs
Minimum affordable housing requirements

Under the NPPF “Golden Rules”, there must be 15% more affordable homes on land within or released from the Green Belt. If there’s no local policy, the default is 50%. On the positive side though, these proposals should be given ‘significant weight’ in planning decisions. That’s because the public benefits for local communities are clear.

If you’re interested in developing on grey land, take these actions:

Action	What to do
Showed you looked for brownfield sites first	List previously developed land (PDL) options you tried first. That could be an old depot site in the urban area or a redundant industrial unit on a commercial estate. Make a note of who you contacted at each site and why, after deliberation, these sites didn’t work out. Do this before you move onto potential green belt land so you can show green belt development as your last resort.
Find a grey belt site and prove it	This is the part that’s open to interpretation. There are two approaches. First, show the area of green belt you want is PDL. Prove it with dated photos, planning history, rates or land-use records and old OS/aerials. Or second, prove it’s low quality for green belt purposes. Use an NPFF-based justification like, “This is grey belt land because it does not strongly contribute to purposes (a), (b) or (d)”. Reference the NPPF rather than listing specific tests. Another reason could be defensible green belt boundaries like a railway line to a major road. Show that your proposal would not undermine overall Green Belt aims. Some blockers to look out for, especially on new developments. Avoid SSSIs, listed buildings, high flood risk and any policies protecting historic towns. Note that protected areas and assets still apply, like listed buildings and high flood risk.
Book a pre-application meeting	Send in a one-page “grey-belt note” with three parts. First, the site name, address and red-line plan. Second, why do you believe it’s grey belt land. And third, an argument summary. At the meeting, take copies of the note with you, together with: • A red-line plan • 3-4 dated photos • A simple constraints map (SSSIs/listed buildings/flood risk) • Your affordable housing provision (remember that’s the local rule +15pp, capped at 50% onsite provision). • A one-page viability summary At the end of the meeting, you should hear whether the council agrees in principle and what they want to see next.
Apply for planning permission	Choose to submit an outline or full planning application. Send in the basic forms plus a location map and simple plans for the work you want to do. Make sure you include affordable housing permission and your Biodiversity Gain Plan.

WindsorPatania note: You may be able to use Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) to help your grey-belt cases. For example, you could design on-site planting to join up wildlife corridors. Or you could buy off-site biodiversity units in the LNRS priority area for that council. This can lift your project’s strategic significance score.

3. National Planning Policy Framework and Planning and Infrastructure Bill

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out how councils should handle housing delivery. It also continued the previous need for councils to:

Build a sufficient five-year housing land supply (5YHLS)
Meet the Housing Delivery Test (HDT)

The government scores councils on the HDT based on the number of homes built versus homes needed over the past three years.

From December 2024, the previous 5% buffer returned for councils performing well. HDT failures usually mean delivery below 95% over three years. If it’s below 95%, the council must come up with an action plan. Below 85% and the buffer goes up to 20%.

Less than 75% and the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies (“tilted balance”). That makes approvals more likely where the benefits of residential development are greater than the harms. This can help developers achieve a green light on housing projects that are ready to start, with planning permission granted where benefits outweigh harms.

The reason for the buffer is to account for underdelivery and slippage, giving councils a margin of error when planning future sites. For example, some sites lapse or build out more slowly than expected, so there are fewer new homes than planned.

How can you use this information? If the council is underperforming, make a note of their latest 5YHLS statement and HDT result. Quote it when you’re presenting to the local planning committee.

This may tilt the decision towards consent on serviced urban land and existing building projects. Use the NPPF’s own language so decision-makers follow the same test and give significant weight to meeting local housing needs.

Also, keep an eye on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This is the infrastructure bill within the government’s planning reforms.

One of the main aims of the bill is to speed up decisions, tackle the housing crisis and support economic growth. The bill addresses delays in the planning process and seeks their removal. The law should already push local councils along to approve property developments faster. Good housing schemes that support development are prime examples.

Very recent amendments in October 2025 would let ministers issue “holding directions”. That would stop councils’ ability to refuse some applications. It does this by giving the Secretary of State the power to handle the application instead of the council. This isn’t policy yet but it does illustrate keenness on behalf of the government to:

Speed up housing development so it can meet its own mandatory housing targets
Remove delays caused by politically motivated refusals or stalled local plans

WindsorPatania note: Read our latest guides on Class Q, Class AA, commercial to residential and Class MA conversions. We’ve also recently updated our guidance on outbuilding planning and house extensions.

4. Plan-making reforms

Councils use Local Plans to set out their targets for homes, jobs and infrastructure. The government wants to speed up and digitise the process.

Many local authorities take an average of seven years before they produce a new Local Plan. Now, they need to do it within 30 months so they’re kept up to date.

Under the new process, there’ll be two fixed consultation periods and “gateway” checks by the Planning Inspectorate. This is to spot issues early and keep plans on track. The examination pause period should take no longer than six months.

From March 2025, the December 2024 NPPF will apply to plan-making, unless a council’s plan is already at an advanced stage. This means some local authorities can still submit under the current system up to the end of 2026, while others move to the new rules now.

How should investors and developers react to this? Read the council’s Local Development Scheme to check when they intend to publish their plan. If the plan is already at Regulation 19 or heading for submission under the current system, then submit now. But if the council is switching to the new system, submit at the first of the two new consultation windows.

5. Increases in planning fees

Planning fees in England went up on 6 December 2023 and now rise every 1 April by CPI (capped at 10%). The first increase was 1.7% from 1 April 2025.

The government also:

Reset several specific fees in 2025
Introduced tiered charges for Section 73 applications

You use Section 73 to amend or remove conditions attached to a planning permission. You can do this without changing the overall development (or the description of the existing development).

The most used fees are currently:

Application type	What it covers	Fee (from 1 Apr 2025)
Householder (single dwellinghouse)	Extensions, alterations to one house	£528
Works within a house curtilage	Outbuildings, walls, gates for one house	£262
New dwellings – full (fewer than 10)	Per dwelling	£588 each
New dwellings – full (10–50)	Per dwelling	£635 each
New dwellings – full (50+)	Base + per-unit to a cap	£31,385 + £189 per extra unit; cap £411,885
Non-residential floorspace	New build, not houses/agri/plant	£588 per 75 m² then £635 per 75 m², then base + £189 per 75 m² to a cap of £411,885
Prior approval: Class MA (E → C3)	Change of use to housing	£250 per dwelling (a permitted development route)
Prior approval: Class Q (agri → C3)	With building works	£516; £240 without
Larger home extensions (Part 1, Class A)	Prior approval route	£240
Remove/vary condition (Section 73)	After permission	£86 householder; £586 non-major; £2,000 major

For outline applications, the charges are:

Outline category	How the fee is calculated	Key numbers
Dwellings (outline)	By site area per 0.1 ha	£588 per 0.1 ha up to 0.5 ha, then £635 per 0.1 ha; large sites £15,695 + £189 per extra 0.1 ha, capped at £205,943
Non-residential (outline)	By site area per 0.1 ha	Same pattern as above and also capped at £205,943

Try to submit before 1 April to avoid that year’s rise. If you submit after 1 April, assume fees went up with inflation and add a small cushion to your budget to accommodate it.

Finally, remember the Planning Portal charge. If you apply online, the Portal adds a service fee (about £70.83 + VAT on applications over £100).

Bonus: other updates in brief

Other changes and further restrictions affecting property development and management include:

Short-term lets (proposed Use Class C5): This has been bubbling since early 2024. Originally proposed by the Sunak government, the Starmer regime supports. They have gone quiet on the issue though. The idea is to introduce a new holiday let use class like the Welsh government. Keep an eye out for it as this may be another permitted development and licensing hurdle to overcome.
NDMPs (National Development Management Policies): These are frameworks used in national planning rules. So, they sit higher in the legal hierarchy than Local Plans. There was a 2025 consultation timetable but it slipped so we’ll need to wait for news on that.
NSIPs: NSIPs (Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects) are the biggest infrastructure schemes. For example, major energy, transport, water, waste and data centre projects. The Secretary of State decides NSIPs through a Development Consent Order (DCO), not by the local planning authority. DCO decisions are still open to legal challenge in the courts.
EIA/SEA: Ministers are streamlining major-infrastructure decisions. The reforms shift responsibility from EIA/SEA to Environmental Outcomes Reports (EORs). The regulations are in train so you should track this if you deliver EIA-scale projects.
General Approval 2024: English councils can bring in additional HMO licensing and selective licensing. From 2024, they’ve not needed the Secretary of State’s sign-off. They need to run a minimum 10-week consultation period and meet the tests set out in the Housing Act. Expect to see a lot more additional licensing schemes in coming years across the country.

Stay on top of the new legislation with WindsorPatania

With the government’s renewed focus on planning legislation and councils cracking down on permitted development rights, working with the right architect is crucial. Whether you want to establish engineering operations on farmland or you want to know how much grant funding your council’s getting to follow the NPPF, partner with professionals in the know.

WindsorPatania’s industry professionals offer a full range of architectural services include:

To get started, submit a project, email us or call us for a free consultation. We’re happy to discuss your project and look forward to hearing from you.

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