The power of planning tools

01 December 2025

How effective use of lesser known consenting regimes can deliver for the government’s growth agenda while safeguarding environmental protections

The government expects to spend £725 billion over the next decade on the infrastructure needed to reach net zero, while also maintaining and improving the systems and services we rely on in everyday life. Publication of the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy and the Infrastructure Pipeline this summer set out how the investment will improve everything from prisons and hospitals, through to roads and schools. As well as driving better infrastructure fit for the future, the investment is also seen as being key to leveraging economic growth.

This scale of spending over the next decade is ambitious, not just due to the level of investment required but also because of questions over our ability, as a nation, to get the projects from planning and onto site during that timeframe too. The country’s planning system has long been a blocker to making fast progress on infrastructure investment, not helped by austerity measures applied to local government over the past 15 years that have slowed the pace of planning application processing by limited the capacity of planning departments.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which forms part of the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, is aiming to bring reform to the planning system, but how the new system will actually work remains to be seen. However, other consenting regimes already exist – and others are coming – which create alternative flexible, ways to approve strategic and complex projects. Their use could be critical to “get Britain building”, particularly where there’s common agreement and government support for projects that are sorely needed and in the interest of the country. If used well, these consenting routes can also mitigate the wider impact of these projects to the environment and society.

Planning tools to consider

The best-known planning tool is the development consent order (DCO) which is used for granting permission for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs). The DCO process is designed to streamline the planning and consent process for large-scale projects, ensuring that they can be delivered efficiently while still considering environmental and community impacts.

Then, at a local level, there’s the Town and Country Planning Act, where the local planning authority is the decision maker, placing this route at the heart of democracy. Although tried and tested, it isn’t perfect. The route can be bureaucratic and puts pressure on financially constrained local planning services.

However, there are other tools which are less well known, including the special development order (SDO), the local development order (LDO) and the mayoral development order (MDO).

An SDO is a planning tool which can be used to expedite the approval process for any type of development. It allows for decision making to be taken out of local control and handled at a higher level. This can be particularly useful for projects that are deemed to be of national importance or have significant government support but fall outside of the NSIP criteria, such as data centres or defence sites that are in the interest of national security. Using the SDO approach can help to mitigate the wider impacts on the environment and society while ensuring that critical projects are delivered efficiently.

Locally-focused options

An LDO is a planning tool used by local planning authorities, with the work to establish and grant the order undertaken by the planning authority rather than by a developer. This means that certain types of development, particularly those that promote economic growth, job creation or regeneration, can proceed without the need for a full planning application, provided they comply with the conditions set out in the LDO. The aim is to simplify and speed up the planning process, encouraging development and economic growth in the designated area.

MDOs also focus on a specific area but in this case one that is under the jurisdiction of a mayor. This tool is currently limited to London but has the potential to be expanded to other regions under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which is currently going through Parliament. This bill could transform MDOs into a more powerful version of LDOs, backed by the authority of an elected mayor and with new powers for revenue generation. It has strong potential for expediting projects outside of London.

Then there are transport and works act orders (TWAO), which are commonly used for rail and tram projects but can actually be used for any development affecting guided transport systems, for example canal and river navigation. A TWAO can include the planning permission required for the project, as well as legally authorising the construction and use of the new infrastructure. It’s a favoured consenting option for transport projects as it is determined at national level.

Making these orders work for the environment

This range of development orders presents a real opportunity to fast-track planning permission – great for the projects but what about the environment? While routes like the SDO aren’t accompanied by formal procedures, they are required to comply with other legislation, such as the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and protected species regulations. Nonetheless, there’s still a concern that these alternative consenting regimes favour speed, with potential impacts on habitats and communities of secondary concern.

However, there are ways to ensure these sensitivities are identified, assessed and managed. These methods can create a foundation for a more flexible and iterative process that fosters better integration between designers, engineers and environmentalists.

Based on Mott MacDonald’s experience of these consenting regimes, there are several key actions needed to safeguard the environment. Firstly, environmental desk and field surveys should be used to establish areas where development is to be avoided. While this is standard practice for most projects already, early collaboration with designers over where these areas are and over the likely use of the site will bring even greater clarity. This helps assess the most challenging locations and requirements for infrastructure, including temporary and permanent access routes, so that designs can be developed to avoid or reduce environmental impacts.

This calls for environmentalists and designers to work in tandem from the start. Undertaking an environmental appraisal at the same time as designs are being developed enables initiatives and mitigation at an early stage of the project design. Using different viewpoints – from environmentalists, designers, clients and stakeholders – at this point can yield imaginative solutions to mitigation and will help foster relationships and improve knowledge sharing.

When data is gathered, environmentalists should be put in a leading position to set development zones and limits. This allows them to be fully engaged with design which provides more opportunity to balance environmental impact and essential infrastructure.

Buffer zones could be established to ensure no destruction of important ecological areas, such as wetlands or ancient woodland. These zones allow for detailed landscape planting and biodiversity net gain (BNG) habitats to be incorporated at a later date.

Whether developers decide to go down the DCO route, or one of these alternatives, it’s critical to bring expert planners and environmental teams in early to influence the project from a holistic point of view. This will support embedding environmental benefits from the outset and deliver a greater understanding on all sides of these benefits in project design.

If these consenting routes, along with the planning reform currently going through Parliament, can achieve this, then at the end of the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy not only will the UK have better infrastructure, but the country will also have made great strides in restoring nature too.

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Chris Clarke is a senior associate for town planning at Mott MacDonald