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"The reforms implement recommendations from the Corry Review and will be backed by £500m in funding."
The reforms implement recommendations from the Corry Review and will be backed by £500m in funding. The reforms build on the mandatory biodiversity gain requirements for terrestrial NSIPs that are scheduled to come into force by May 2026 and reflect the government’s focus on nature-positive infrastructure and streamlined environmental planning regulation. Key developments include the establishment of a Lead Environmental Regulator approach and the creation of the Defra Group Infrastructure Board.
Background and funding
On 19 August 2025, DEFRA announced comprehensive environmental planning reforms designed to “break planning system gridlock” whilst safeguarding environmental protections. Secretary of State Steve Reed emphasised that “these changes will get spades in the ground quicker so developers can build the homes families need” as part of the government’s Plan for Change targeting 1.5 million homes and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major infrastructure projects.
The reforms are underpinned by £500m in funding, which includes support for the Nature Restoration Fund and Marine Recovery Fund schemes, alongside investment to build capacity within the planning system. This funding package was announced as part of the government’s 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy published in June 2025, which for the first time integrates economic infrastructure with housing and social infrastructure under the oversight of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority. The funding will improve the capacity of Natural England and the Environment Agency to process planning applications, as envisaged in the Corry Review.
DEFRA believes the Nature Restoration Fund “will enable infrastructure builders to meet their environmental obligations faster and at greater scale by pooling contributions from developers to fund larger strategic interventions for nature“. This approach reduces the burden of individual site-level assessments and delivering mitigation and compensation. The complementary Marine Recovery Fund will deliver industry-funded strategic measures to compensate for adverse effects of offshore wind developments on marine protected areas, directly supporting the government’s Clean Power Mission.
Lead Environmental Regulator Approach and Defra Group Infrastructure Board
Two cornerstones of the reforms are the Lead Environmental Regulator approach and the Defra Group Infrastructure Board.
"The Lead Environmental Regulator approach addresses what the government describes as ending 'the merry-go-round of developers dealing with multiple, overlapping authorities'."
The Lead Environmental Regulator approach addresses what the government describes as ending “the merry-go-round of developers dealing with multiple, overlapping authorities“. The Lower Thames Crossing has been selected as the first major UK infrastructure project to pilot this approach, with Natural England serving as the sole environmental regulatory. Marian Spain, Chief Executive of Natural England, explained the rationale behind the strategy, stating “Infrastructure, housing and nature are not competing interests. Sustainable development and nature recovery must go hand in hand, and urgent action is needed to restore our depleted nature and build desperately needed homes and infrastructure” and emphasising that the new approach “brings developers and all the regulators together to agree how to avoid environmental harm and plan opportunities for nature recovery, so streamlining the approvals process“.
The Lead Environmental Regulator will coordinate responses from Natural England, the Environment Agency and the Marine Management Organisation, providing developers with a single point of contact. This approach includes better coordination through clear named contacts, coherent advice across regulators, streamlined processes sharing data and expertise, and proactive resolution of issues with escalation procedures including potential Ministerial intervention where necessary.
The government has established the Defra Group Infrastructure Board to provide early oversight and address planning issues before they become critical project delays. The Defra Group Infrastructure Board will monitor at least 50 major infrastructure projects, including the Lower Thames Crossing, Hinkley Point C, East West Rail, the Heathrow expansion and numerous renewable energy projects. The new approach draws lessons from past challenges such as HS2’s bat tunnel construction, ensuring “alternative solutions to meet environmental obligations can be explored earlier in the process – ensuring proportionate decisions are made and reducing costs and delays“.
Implementation of Corry Review Recommendations and regulatory overlap
These reforms build on recommendations from the Corry Review, a government initiative led by economist and former Head of the No. 10 Policy Unit, Dan Corry. Published in April 2025, the Corry Review made 29 recommendations for improvements to designing and implementing environmental regulation, based around five key themes: focus on outcomes, scale and proportionality, streamline “green tape“, improve consistency and fairness in enforcing regulatory compliance, unlock private sector green finance, and make regulators more digital and innovative.
DEFRA confirmed it is fast-tracking nine key measures from the Corry Review, including the Lead Environmental Regulator approach and Defra Group Infrastructure Board. Additional measures include a rapid review of environmental guidance to remove duplication, ambiguity, and inconsistency, and streamlining permits and guidance through updating the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. DEFRA believes this will allow regulators to make better decisions on environmental permitting exemptions and reduce delays to decision-making through establishing a continuous programme of regulatory reform.
"However, the industry must adapt to new ways of working with environmental regulators."
Mandatory biodiversity net gain (“BNG”) requirements for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (“NSIPs”) are due to come into force in May 2026 in the UK. The regime requires NSIPs to achieve a biodiversity gain objective of at least 10%, calculated using biodiversity metrics and delivered through biodiversity gain statements, and is designed to ensure NSIPs deliver lasting environmental improvements beyond simple mitigation. The mandatory BNG framework for NSIPs interacts closely with the reforms announced by DEFRA, creating a more integrated and strategic approach to sustainable development. By streamlining environmental approvals using the Lead Environmental Regulator approach and enabling pooled mitigation funding, the reforms support the efficient delivery of BNG across complex infrastructure schemes. A £500m nature recovery package further facilitates BNG compliance by funding off-site biodiversity units and long-term habitat management. The reforms also reinforce BNG’s flexible delivery model, accommodating phased construction and temporary land use, whilst aligning both initiatives with national biodiversity targets under the Environment Act 2021. Together the two regimes signal the government’s shift towards nature-positive infrastructure planning that balances environmental enhancement with economic growth.
Implications for industry practice
The reforms have significant implications on how the construction and infrastructure industries approach major infrastructure projects. The streamlined regulatory approach aims to reduce timescales and costs associated with environmental approvals, whilst the strategic funding mechanisms aim to provide more cost-effective routes to achieving BNG objectives.
However, the industry must adapt to new ways of working with environmental regulators. The Lead Environmental Regulator model requires early engagement and collaborative approaches to environmental planning. The emphasis on early identification and resolution of environmental challenges means that environmental considerations must be embedded from the earliest stages of project development. The government’s commitment to a “proactive, energetic and ‘can-do’ culture across regulators which is focussed on enabling development whilst protecting and improving the environment” suggests a more collaborative regulatory environment that simultaneously maintains rigorous environmental standards.
Future outlook and challenges
"The Lower Thames Crossing pilot will provide crucial learning for wider rollout of the new approach across the infrastructure sector."
Whilst these reforms represent significant progress in streamlining environmental planning regulation, several challenges remain. The BNG requirements for terrestrial NSIPs are still scheduled for implementation by May 2026 (six months delay from the previously planned date of November 2025), and the government has yet to publish the detailed biodiversity gain statements that will govern how the 10% objective is calculated and achieved. The success of the Lead Environmental Regulator approach will depend heavily on effective coordination between multiple regulatory bodies with different statutory responsibilities and cultures. The Lower Thames Crossing pilot will provide crucial learning for wider rollout of the new approach across the infrastructure sector. Furthermore, the strategic approach embodied in the Nature Restoration Fund requires careful design to ensure that pooled contributions deliver genuine environmental benefits equivalent to or exceeding those that would have been achieved through individual project mitigation. The industry will need clear guidance on how these mechanisms interact with existing BNG requirements and when developers can rely on strategic delivery rather than project-specific measures.
The government’s commitment to maintaining environmental protections whilst accelerating delivery will test whether regulatory reform can achieve genuine win-win outcomes for development and nature recovery. The construction industry should prepare for a more streamlined but potentially more demanding regulatory environment, where early engagement, strategic thinking and collaborative approaches to environmental planning become essential for project success. The reforms mark a pivotal step in the evolution of environmental regulation for major infrastructure. Success will depend on effective implementation and genuine collaboration between developers, regulators and environmental stakeholders. These new changes will require more focus and attention on project planning processes, early engagement strategies with the new regulatory structures, and careful consideration of how BNG objectives can be effectively achieved within the evolving policy landscape. The Lower Thames Crossing pilot and the first tranche of projects overseen by the Defra Group Infrastructure Board will provide crucial indicators as to whether this ambitious regulatory reform can deliver on its promise.
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