The Chancellor is proposing sweeping reforms that will give Parliament the authority to approve critical energy schemes and better protect infrastructure projects from judicial review.

The proposed changes –set out in a policy note are intended to reinforce the UK’s energy security, drive down consumer bills and support the government’s central mission of economic growth.

The policy paper sets out two proposed reforms to the current process for consenting major infrastructure – subject to detailed design and the passage of underpinning legislation – which would allow for proportionate protection from judicial review: a parliamentary authorisation mechanism; and a challenge window mechanism.

The headline proposal would allow Parliament to designate and approve the most important clean energy projects as being of ‘Critical National Importance’ (CNI), reducing the exposure from judicial review on all but human rights grounds. This would help deliver the government’s commitment to accelerate new infrastructure development and drive growth, including much-needed projects like new power stations and offshore wind farms.

For all other nationally significant infrastructure - including transport and water projects - the government will introduce a fixed legal challenge window, at the end of which the planning consent could be updated to address any legitimate issues.

This would reduce the potential grounds for judicial review – and where any continue to be pressed, courts would be able to make use of existing reforms to deny permission where it was clear the claim was without merit. The law would also be changed to require the courts to refuse permission for a judicial review to proceed on any issues not brought up during the consenting period or in the challenge window – meaning that developers can then proceed with full confidence that no successive spurious challenges can be raised at a later stage.

Taken together the reforms are set to build on protections already passed into law through the Planning and Infrastructure Act, as the government seeks to end the practice of serial meritless legal challenges clogging up the courts. Out of 167 Development Consent Order decisions made since 2008, just six were quashed following a challenge – with many more failed processes costing developers, taxpayers and the economy billions in delays and wasted time.

The new CNI route would apply exclusively to clean energy projects - all other major infrastructure projects would benefit from the fixed-window route.

Lord Banner KC, author of the Independent review into legal challenges against Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects said:

“I was pleased to see the Prime Minister act on the recommendations of my review into legal challenges of nationally significant infrastructure projects last year, and these reforms are already bearing fruit. It was however clear from the many people I spoke to in the course of that work and since that there is a strong case for going further if we are to meet the scale of our infrastructure challenge.

“These proposals, which draw on the democratic mandate of the legislature, are a further bold step, and I look forward to supporting their development ahead of the government bringing forward legislation.”

Robbie Owen, Partner, Pinsent Masons said:

This initiative by the government is welcomed and chimes with the case made out during the passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill last year that Parliament should have a role in relation to the consenting of critical national infrastructure projects. I look forward to seeing the detail but giving Parliament the authority to approve critical energy schemes and better protecting infrastructure projects from judicial review is essential if we are to deliver these much-needed projects within the timescale required.

Catherine Howard, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer commented:

“The ability for developers to choose to make applications direct to the Planning Inspectorate is greatly to be welcomed. We know that some councils are consistently making decisions which fail to apply Government policy, however clearly framed. The delay and cost this causes benefits no one. There is already a precedent for direct applications and swift and efficient decision-making by PINS where councils are in special measures. Expanding this right makes sense given the challenges and opportunities in the current political climate.”

The announcement builds on a series of decisive steps the Government has already taken to reduce the scope for meritless legal challenges to delay critical infrastructure projects:

The Planning and Infrastructure Act reduced the number of attempts a claimant can make to bring a legal challenge from three to one for meritless claims.

Amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules, which came into effect in October 2025, tightened procedural requirements for nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) cases.

Further procedural reforms announced in October 2025 set clear target timescales for NSIP cases in the High Court and Court of Appeal, with cases heard by judges with appropriate planning expertise.

In response to the Fingleton Review, the Government has also committed to two further areas of reform: developing a government-backed indemnification scheme to give developers greater financial certainty when facing legal challenge; and extending NSIP judicial review reforms to other major planning regimes, including those under the Town and Country Planning Act.

Click here to download the policy paper: Getting Britain Building: Reforming Judicial Review for Infrastructure