Infrastructure and Planning
Overview
Infrastructure delivery is the cross-cutting operational challenge underpinning most of the government’s ambitions. The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy (£725bn) and Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Royal Assent December 2025) are the primary vehicles. NISTA is the oversight body. NSIP pre-application timelines doubled to 27+ months by 2021 — reform is urgent given multiple 2030 targets.
Departmental positions
| Department | Position | Key commitment |
|---|---|---|
| HMT | Fiscal backer; certainty provider | £725bn over 10 years; stability and investment rules |
| MHCLG | Planning reform lead | PIA 2025; 1.5m homes; 150 major infra decisions |
| DESNZ | Energy NSIP; grid reform | Clean Power 2030; EN-1 NPS |
| NISTA | Portfolio oversight | 213 GMPP projects; 780-project pipeline |
| MOD | Largest GMPP portfolio (47 projects) | Defence infrastructure alongside capability |
Strategic coherence assessment
Partly coherent. The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy and PIA 2025 are well-integrated in intent. But:
- Delivery confidence: 31 red-rated GMPP projects (£198bn whole-life cost); count rising year-on-year; average cost increasing. The strategy’s ambitions are not matched by delivery confidence at programme level.
- Planning reform timing: PIA only in force December 2025; most provisions require secondary legislation. The 2030 targets (clean power, housing, biodiversity) need decisions now, not after implementation.
- Workforce: Infrastructure delivery depends on the same skills pool as IS-8 sectors; no single workforce model covers the intersection.
- Green Book: Revised to be simpler, but the quality of project appraisal that generates red-rated projects is unchanged structurally.
Key tensions
- delivery-confidence-fiscal-ambition — Rising red-rated project count vs. ambitious investment programme
- planning-timelines-2030-targets — Implementation timelines vs. hard 2030 deadlines
- housing-biodiversity — Housing delivery vs. nature recovery; NRF as the mechanism
Open questions
- Which GMPP projects are red-rated? What is the sector breakdown of the 31 red-rated projects?
- What is the implementation timeline for PIA 2025 secondary legislation?
- Is there a single cross-government skills or workforce plan covering infrastructure delivery?