Law & Regulation

Planning Act 2008

Establishes the principal development consent regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), including the Development Consent Order (DCO) process for qualifying major infrastructure in sectors such as energy, transport, water, wastewater and waste. As reformed by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Royal Assent 18 December 2025) — faster procedure, duty-to-notify replacing mandatory pre-application consultation, and a Secretary of State power to direct certain projects outside the DCO process — which amends this regime rather than replacing it.