Caitlin Moran On The Biggest Planning Reform In A Generation, Housing As Comedy, And The People Who Will Oppose Anything
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Wednesday, April
Labour has passed the Planning and Infrastructure Act, described by everyone covering it as “the biggest overhaul of the planning system in a generation.” The previous biggest overhaul of the planning system in a generation was the Town and Country Planning Act of 1990, which was described at the time as the biggest overhaul of the planning system in a generation. Before that, the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947, which was — you have already predicted this — described as the biggest overhaul of the planning system in a generation. Generational planning reforms are Britain’s second most reliable political tradition after promising to fix the NHS.
What the 2026 Planning and Infrastructure Act actually does: accelerates infrastructure project approvals, streamlines local authority planning processes, and creates new mechanisms for housing delivery that are designed to be harder for objectors to block indefinitely. The people who object indefinitely to housing development in their area have mobilised in response. Their objection to objection prevention is that it removes their ability to prevent things they object to. This is correct. It is also the point of the legislation.
The Comedy Of Planning Permission
The specific British art of opposing housing development — citing heritage, character, congestion, shadowing, and other concerns that are genuinely sometimes real and frequently proxies for “I own a house and would prefer house prices to remain high” — is one of the country’s great participatory comedy traditions. The planning committee meeting, where 47 people speak about the impact of a proposed three-storey building on the local skyline, is funnier than most things on television. The Planning Act is trying to streamline this process. The comedy may reduce. Bohiney covers it. The London Prat covers the policy. The Daily Mash has the planning objection generator.
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SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
