The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025: challenges and opportunities for the built environment sector Available to Purchase

The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 represents one of the most significant reforms to the English planning system in recent decades, with profound implications for infrastructure delivery. This paper critically examines the Act, focusing on how legislative reform reshapes governance arrangements, professional practice, and infrastructure outcomes. Using a qualitative doctrinal and comparative methodology, the study analyses the Act alongside previous UK planning reforms and selected European planning systems, highlighting how legislative change influences infrastructure delivery through governance arrangements and professional practice. The paper develops a conceptual framework linking law, governance mechanisms, and built environment outcomes, demonstrating that legislative change influences infrastructure performance indirectly through institutional structures and professional practice. The analysis identifies key opportunities arising from the Act, including accelerated infrastructure delivery, improved project certainty, enhanced investment confidence, and the potential for strategic environmental mitigation. However, it also highlights significant challenges relating to environmental integrity, public trust, and skills and capacity constraints within local authorities. While the Act may improve delivery efficiency, its success will depend on complementary governance reforms, sustained investment in professional capacity, and the ethical engagement of engineers in balancing efficiency with sustainability. The findings offer practical insights for engineers, policymakers, and regulators navigating planning reform.