Planning, Environment and Property Newsletter – Summer 2026 Edition

Welcome to our June 2026 edition of the Planning, Environment & Property Newsletter. Since our last edition the NPPF consultation has closed and we are sure that all practitioners eagerly await the outcome which is, according to the Housing Secretary Steve Reed, expected to be published “very very shortly” this summer.

This is not the end of the wide-reaching planning reforms with the Government announcing on 20 May further proposals for “Reforming judicial review for infrastructure”.1 The May publication comes off the back of provisions in the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 tightening the judicial review process and reducing the number of attempts a claimant can make to bring a legal challenge, from three to one for meritless claims. These new provisions were put in action in April with Lieven J refusing permission to challenge Stonestreet Green Solar DCO and certifying the application as totally without merit which, as a result of the 2025 Act’s changes, means there is no further right of appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The 20 May proposals include plans to enable Parliament to designate Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects as of Critical National Importance which, if approved, would give the resultant Development Consent Order a distinct statutory status specified in the underpinning legislation, akin to an Act of Parliament. As a result, the intention is that DCO would be protected from judicial review on issues other than human rights grounds. An additional proposal is that all NSIPs will be able to make use of an optional structured challenge window where the Secretary of State would publish a draft decision before a final DCO is issued. This is designed to bring forward potential judicial reviews and enable the Secretary of State to consider and address any issues before issuing a final DCO. This latter change will be a welcome one for developers and Government given the very limited existing powers to amend and revoke DCOs.

• Celina Colquhoun – addresses four recent cases that deal with planning enforcement, certificates of lawfulness and revocation of the latter – Dharmeshkumar v SSHCLG [2026] EWCA Civ 247; Leigh v SSHCLG [2026] EWHC 537 (Admin), R (Moran) v Medway Council [2026] EWCA Civ 484 and the (unusual): R (Ocean One Hundred Ltd) v New Forest National Park Authority [2026] EWCA Civ 493.
• Dan Kozelko provides his views on the “continuing saga” of regulation 64(2) of the EIA Regulations as considered by Fordham J in R (on the application of Barbican Quarter Organisation Ltd) v City of London Corporation [2026] EWHC 687 (Admin).
• Jake Thorold considers R (River Action) v Ofwat [2026] EWHC 586, a challenge to conditions attached by Ofwat on the expenditure recoverable for work by water companies on “storm overflow arrangements”.
• Samuel Moss writes on R (Ramblers’ Association) v Roxlena Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 534 and the Court of Appeal’s clear restatement of the law on section 31 of the Highways Act 1980.

We do hope you enjoy this edition of the PEP newsletter and manage to find time over the next couple of months to enjoy the Summer.

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