Various amendments to the Planning Act 2008 introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 came into force on 24 July 2026. These amendments affect the process of applying for, and making representations about, applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs). Government has published guidance which explains and supports the changes on its National Infrastructure Planning Guidance Portal.
Updated advice
At the Planning Inspectorate we publish advice pages about running the infrastructure planning process which are drawn from experience and good practice. Our advice pages are non-statutory, but to ensure the system runs effectively, applicants and others are encouraged to follow our recommendations. Our advice pages are intended to complement the legislation and guidance issued by government.
Responding to the process changes introduced on 24 July 2026, we have made updates to several of our NSIP advice pages, on an initial basis, to reflect some of the key changes to the Planning Act 2008 process. These initial updates include, amongst other things, the removal of references to the obsolete statutory requirement for applicants to carry out pre-application consultation.
The following advice pages were updated on 27 July 2026
Other affected advice pages, including the remaining pages in the Advice on environmental matters collection, will be subject to an initial update during August 2026.
We are undertaking a further detailed review of our NSIP advice page collection from this summer to fully align our published advice with the amended legal and guidance framework. All future updates will be published on our GOV.UK pages. You can sign up for alerts when changes are made via the GOV UK pages.
Updated pre-application services
The 2024 Pre-application Prospectus sets out our pre-application service offer for NSIP applicants.
As a result of the changes to the process introduced on 24 July 2026, some features of the pre-application service offer set out in the 2024 Pre-application Prospectus are obsolete.
We are undertaking pilots with some applicants to test updated and improved approaches to our pre-application services which align with government’s policy aims. We expect to update the Prospectus to reflect the outcomes of these pilots and the amended legal and guidance framework by summer 2027.
Until those changes have been implemented, applicants are still requested to engage our pre-application services by subscribing to one of the three service tiers described in the 2024 Pre-application Prospectus. The service received by applicants prior to the Prospectus being updated will be adjusted to disapply the obsolete features.
If you are an applicant and have any questions about the impact of these changes on the service you are receiving, please contact your assigned case manager or NIEnquiries@planninginspectorate.gov.uk.
Other information to be updated
The process guide on the Find a National Infrastructure Project website will also be updated during this week to reflect the changes.
