A new statutory instrument has put a firm timetable around one of the Planning Act 2008 regime's more technical gateway decisions. 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 come into force on 24 July 2026. From that date, the Secretary of State will be under a statutory deadline when deciding a qualifying request for a direction under section 35B(1) of the 2008 Act. In practical terms, the measure is about how quickly ministers must decide whether a project can be taken out of the development consent route.
The policy background sits in the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025. Section 4 of that Act inserted sections 35B to 35D into the Planning Act 2008, creating a power for the Secretary of State to direct that development consent is not required where an alternative consenting regime is considered more appropriate, and a further power to set decision timetables by regulations. That is why this instrument matters beyond its narrow drafting. It is one of the first operational rules showing how the 2025 Act's infrastructure reforms will work in day-to-day case handling, rather than only at the level of headline policy.
The Regulations set a default 'primary deadline' of 35 days beginning with the day the Secretary of State receives the qualifying request. Unless regulation 3 is engaged, the decision must be made before the end of that period. Regulation 3 creates the only structured pause. If ministers ask the requestor for information before the 35-day period expires, the requestor has 21 days to provide it. The decision must then be taken within 35 days beginning with the day after the 21-day deadline or the day after the information is actually received, whichever comes sooner. The effect is to allow further evidence to be sought without leaving the timing open-ended.
For promoters, planning lawyers and public bodies, the immediate change is not the test for obtaining a section 35B direction but the predictability of the timetable. A request that may alter the consent route for a major infrastructure scheme will now sit within a clear statutory window, which should make programme planning and advice to boards, funders and local partners more straightforward. The discipline cuts both ways. Not every approach to the department will start the clock: the regime applies to a 'qualifying request' within the meaning of section 35D(2). Promoters will therefore need to treat the initial submission as a near-complete package, because any missing technical detail may quickly become the critical path once an information request is issued.
The territorial reach is also narrowly drawn. The Regulations extend to England and Wales and, in Scotland, only so far as needed for certain cross-country oil or gas pipe-lines with one end in England or Wales and the other in Scotland. The Explanatory Note says no full impact assessment has been prepared because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. That should not be read as meaning the change is unimportant. The instrument does not expand or narrow project eligibility on its face, but it does standardise the timetable for an early jurisdictional decision that can shape the rest of a scheme's consenting strategy.
The commencement date is a notable detail. According to the note accompanying the instrument, section 35D itself is inserted by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and brought into force on 24 July 2026 by separate commencement regulations. The timetable rules are therefore being activated at the same point as the enabling power. For the infrastructure sector, this is a procedural reform with practical consequences. From 24 July 2026, any party seeking a section 35B direction will be working to a formal 35-day ministerial decision period and, if more material is requested, a tightly framed 21-day response window. The message from the legislation is straightforward: section 35B requests are expected to be dealt with quickly, and submissions will need to be prepared on that basis.