How UK planning can support resilience, not work against it

The UK government is in the process of reforming how it plans and delivers infrastructure. Central to these changes is the recently introduced Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

These reforms are aimed at boosting housing and infrastructure development in the UK.

If implemented correctly, they can also play a role in addressing the effects of climate change and the nature crisis.

The risk is that without focused effort, they will do the opposite – reduce resilience and worsen the nature crisis, resulting in a large bill for future generations.

I recently gave a keynote presentation at the Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum Policy Conference, highlighting this opportunity to build resilience through the new bill. This blog recaps many of the main points covered there.

The scale of the challenge is not to be underestimated

The UK’s infrastructure is facing pressures that, for the most part, it wasn’t designed to withstand.

Even with progress towards net zero carbon emissions targets, climate change is happening and will continue to get worse.

Climate models project that we will see warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers and more frequent and intense weather extremes.

The nature of the type of flooding is changing as a result. More intense summer storms, like the ones London experienced in 2021, mean that more homes away from the coast and rivers are at risk.

The declining health of our natural ecosystems also presents a challenge.

The global economy could face costs ranging from $10 trillion to $25 trillion annually due to biodiversity loss. This is because nature provides a huge amount of value, such as maintaining water quality and thus reducing the need for treatment.

We are, unfortunately, also dealing with a nature crisis.

The role of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

One of the best opportunities for increasing the resilience of our towns and cities is through new developments.

Resilience can be provided for the whole catchment from the beginning at a much lower cost than flood-only projects later on.

We must learn from past mistakes that have left us vulnerable to flooding and nature degradation.

A good place to start would be recognising that pitting development and resilience needs against each other creates a false binary. We can do both.

To do so, resilience will need to be embedded in decision-making for all infrastructure projects.

This requires a deeper understanding of flooding by all engineers and the ability to obtain additional funding. The most resilient approach may not be the cheapest.

What happens if we don’t focus on resilience ?

If badly implemented, the reforms could instead reduce resilience.

If decision-makers only focus on building as many houses as possible at the lowest cost, the UK will miss the economic benefits of building resilience, and flood risk will only get worse.

The role of the Nature Restoration Fund

The new Nature Restoration Fund, as proposed by the government, could provide a coordinated programme of nature improvement at the catchment level.

However, if planning permission is awarded first, the opportunity to intervene early to stop or adapt the development to minimise damage to nature will be gone. As a result, any possible nature improvements will have to be taken elsewhere.

As always, success will depend on the detail. A robust policy and enforcement process is needed to:

• enable statutory consultees (those that projects are legally required to consult with) to identify the most appropriate development requirements; and
• give planning professionals the power to do what is best for society.

The way forward

The government, and other stakeholders (including the ICE) will need to take the following actions to ensure the bill, once implemented, supports greater resilience:

1. Investment decisions should be future-focused and account for physical climate risks. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury don’t know how much money is spent on resilience to extreme weather events or other national risks. The ICE has called for the UK government, led by HM Treasury, to undertake a national review of the economics of adaptation to understand how resilience is valued.
2. The Nature Restoration Fund needs to be ringfenced and provide value to the catchment the development is in.
3. The government needs to implement Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act (2010) as soon as possible. Schedule 3 establishes a process to ensure that any new development includes high-quality sustainable drainage systems. It also removed developers’ automatic right to connect to public sewers.
4. The ICE should increase knowledge of resilience across our membership to contribute to the industry’s capability to respond to flooding and other resilience challenges. In June 2026, the ICE will publish a PAS standard on climate adaptation pathways for infrastructure to support this upskilling.

The scale and pace of the planning reform that the government has underway presents a significant opportunity to increase resilience.

Amid the ongoing effects of climate change and the nature crisis, we can’t afford to waste it.

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