Labour is slashing red tape to fast-track vital projects like nuclear plants, trainlines and windfarms, cutting out blockers who are holding back the UK’s progress.
Currently, excessive legal rules mean approved projects can be dragged back to court three times, causing years of delays and adding hundreds of millions to costs. Now, ministers are overhauling the system, limiting cases to a single challenge, curbing unnecessary delays.
Government data reveals that 58% of major infrastructure projects face legal challenges, delaying the government’s mission to grow the economy and create jobs.
On average, each challenge takes 18 months to resolve, with some stretching over two years, tying up over 10,000 court working days and adding to the nation’s economic frustration.
Announcing the shake up the Prime Minister said:
For too long, blockers have had the upper hand in legal challenges – using our court processes to frustrate growth. We’re putting an end to this challenge culture by taking on the NIMBYs and a broken system that has slowed down our progress as a nation.”
The government says the new rules will strike a balance: protecting the right to justice for genuine cases but clamping down on what it calls a “challenge culture” where small pressure groups use the courts to block projects in the national interest.
This overhaul is key to delivering the government’s Plan for Change, cutting through bureaucracy to unlock faster construction of key infrastructure.
By eliminating frivolous challenges, the government aims to put progress and hardworking people first, getting vital projects off the ground quicker.
Reaction to the plans has been mixed.
Stops time-wasting
Sam Richards, CEO of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, welcomed the changes.
He said: “Time and time again major infrastructure schemes up and down the country are hit with time wasting legal challenges. Not only does this mean it takes longer to build the new roads, pylons, wind turbines, new nuclear and data centres our economy needs, it also adds huge costs making projects even more expensive and Britain poorer.
“The Prime Minister accepting the recommendations, in full, of the Banner Review is a critical step in achieving this and is incredibly welcome news.”
Wrong move
But the CPRE, which oversees the integrity of the countryside, believes this new stance is too confrontational.
Its CEO Roger Mortlock said: “The government should bring people together to tackle the climate emergency, not set them against each other with tired, divisive language.
‘Campaigners bringing legal challenges only do so because they think the law is being broken. Allowing judges to block these concerns as ‘totally without merit’ is anti-democratic and, when it comes to the climate crisis, dangerously short-sighted.”
“For everyone’s sake, we should be building consensus, not dismissing people with real ideas and solutions as “blockers”.’

One of the examples of Nimby action mentioned by the government is the campaign against the new nuclear plant at Sizewell C in Suffolk.
Alison Downes of Stop Sizewell C reacted: “Money is the problem with Sizewell C, not legal challenges. A Final Investment Decision has been “due” for at least two years and is still somewhere over the horizon. There is no evidence the most recent challenge caused any delays at all. Sizewell C remains a deeply flawed project as local people are only too aware.”
There will clearly be obstacles ahead as groups are considering whether the proposed judical changes are themselves lawful. With a strong majority and cross party support the likelihood is the changes will happen.
Whether these shift the speed of infrastructure rollout remains to be seen.