Prime Minister pledges to stop 'the NIMBYs' delaying building projects

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer plans to reduce legal challenges delaying major infrastructure projects, citing the impact of repetitive, meritless cases. Government data shows 58% of decisions are taken to court, causing costly delays.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to stop what he calls ‘the blockers’ from delaying building projects by taking legal action that has no chance of success. Sir Keir says that current “excessive rules mean unarguable cases” can be brought back to the courts three times – clogging up the legal system and causing years of delay and hundreds of millions of cost to projects that have been approved by democratically elected ministers. Government data shows that over half – 58% – of all decisions on major infrastructure were taken to court, getting in the way of the government’s central mission to grow the economy.

The government says that, as part of its Plan for Change, the system will be overhauled, with just one attempt at legal challenge rather than three for “cynical cases lodged purely to cause delay”. Sir Keir said: “This approach will strike the right balance between ensuring ongoing access to justice and protections against genuine issues of propriety, while pushing back against a challenge culture where small pressure groups use the courts to obstruct decisions taken in the national interest. On average, each legal challenge takes around a year and a half to be resolved – with many delayed for two years or more - and the courts have spent over 10,000 working days handling these cases.”

The government gave examples, including:

• East Anglia wind farms were delayed by a group which dragged the case through the courts and lost at every turn – delaying it for over two years.
• Sizewell C, which was taken to court by a small group of activists, with the High Court dismissing it and describing aspects as “utterly hopeless” – despite this, work was left uncertain for two years and legal costs increased.
•  The A47 National Highway Project, which is improving our roads, was dragged to court by a former Green Councillor – his case was eventually dismissed as having ‘no logical basis’, after delaying the project by two years.

Sir Keir Starmer said: “Primary legislation will be changed so that where a judge in an oral hearing at the High Court deems the case totally without merit, it will not be possible to ask the Court of Appeal to reconsider. To ensure ongoing access to justice, a request to appeal second attempt will be allowed for other cases.”

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