We previously wrote about an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (Bill) in the House of Lords. The amendment was proposed by Lord Banner during the committee stage of the Bill's passage through the House of Lords.
On 11 September 2025 the amendment was discussed in the chamber. Whilst there was an agreement from the government that primary legislation was required to address the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in Hillside Parks Ltd v Snowdonia National Park Authority [2022] UKSC 30 (Hillside), the government considered that Lord Banner's amendment was not the correct one as it would remove the Pilkington principle entirely.
The government stressed that it was committed "to ensuring that the planning system supports growth" and that they "want to ensure that there is sufficient flexibility to deal with change to large-scale developments".
There was common ground that the yet to be enacted section 73B TCPA 1990 (introduced by the Levelling up and Regeneration Act 2024) would only provide a solution in about one third of cases.
Lord Banner considered that the drafting he had proposed was very much a starting point and that a different form of words was required to achieve the desired solution. He, therefore, withdrew the amendment.
The debate in the House of Lords shows that a legislative solution to Hillside is being discussed in government and before long one will come forward. This needs to happen sooner rather than later in order to save time, money and not only provide the sector with certainty but also give the sector any chance of delivering 1.5million homes.
If you would like further information or to discuss this please contact
Jade.Chalmers@howardkennedy.com
or Bob.Sadler@howardkennedy.com
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