According to the text published on legislation.gov.uk, the Infrastructure Planning (Timetable for Deciding Request for Direction) Regulations 2026 were made on 30 June 2026, laid before Parliament on 3 July 2026 and will come into force on 24 July 2026. The instrument introduces a statutory timetable for one narrow but important stage of the Planning Act 2008 regime. The change concerns requests for a direction under section 35B(1) of the 2008 Act. Where a qualifying request is made, the Regulations now set out how long the Secretary of State has to decide whether the development consent requirement should be disapplied.
The explanatory note states that the Planning Act 2008 provides the framework for granting development consent for certain nationally significant infrastructure projects. A section 35B direction sits outside the main consent decision itself: it determines whether the development consent regime applies at all in the case presented by the requestor. That means this is a procedural instrument rather than a rewrite of the policy tests for infrastructure planning. Its purpose is to fix the decision timetable, not to widen or narrow the categories of project that may seek a direction.
Regulation 2 sets the default position. Subject to the information-gathering provision in regulation 3, the Secretary of State must decide a qualifying request before the end of 35 days beginning with the day the request is received. The instrument describes this as the primary deadline. For promoters and advisers, that creates a clearer statutory end-point for the initial decision than an open administrative timetable.
Regulation 3 changes the clock where further information is needed. If the Secretary of State asks for more material before the primary deadline expires, the requestor must provide that information within 21 days beginning with the day of the request. Once that stage is reached, the Secretary of State must then decide the request within 35 days beginning with the day after either the secondary deadline or the day on which the information is received, whichever is sooner. In practice, early submission does not extend the process; it can bring the final decision date forward.
Regulation 1 also matters for territorial scope. The Regulations extend to England and Wales and, with a limited exception, to Scotland. The Scottish extension applies only where an oil or gas cross-country pipe-line, other than one constructed by a gas transporter, has one end in England or Wales and the other in Scotland. That drafting keeps the instrument aligned with the cross-border cases already recognised in the Planning Act 2008. It does not create a general Scotland-wide planning procedure for section 35B requests.
The power used to make the instrument is section 35D of the Planning Act 2008. As the footnotes to the legislation record, section 35D was inserted by section 4 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and is brought into force on 24 July 2026 by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026. The Regulations were signed by Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, acting on the Secretary of State's authority. That timing matters because the new timetable and the enabling power start on the same date.
The explanatory note states that no full impact assessment has been prepared because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. On the face of the instrument, that reflects its administrative character: it sets deadlines and information windows rather than changing the substance of development control. Even so, the practical effect is not trivial. From 24 July 2026, applicants seeking a section 35B direction will need to plan for a 35-day initial decision period and a 21-day turnaround if extra information is requested. For legal teams and sponsoring departments, the Regulations place process management within a fixed statutory timetable published on legislation.gov.uk.