The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 were made on 20 May 2026 and signed by Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State, by authority of the Secretary of State. This is the third set of commencement regulations under the 2025 Act. Regulation 3 brings into force, from 21 May 2026, Part 1 of Schedule 5 to the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, with the single exception of paragraph 14(2). In practical terms, that switch-on provision activates the Act's amendments to the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 for England.
According to the explanatory note, the legal effect of Part 1 of Schedule 5 is to extend the protection in Part 6 of the Habitats Regulations to Ramsar sites in England. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance designated under the 1971 Ramsar Convention, and the note states that the amendments now require them to be treated in the same manner as European sites when assessments are carried out under those Regulations. That matters because the change moves Ramsar treatment from policy-backed practice into statute. For local planning authorities, statutory consultees, developers and environmental advisers, the position from 21 May 2026 is that effects on Ramsar sites in England must be considered through the Habitats Regulations framework unless the project falls within the new transitional exemptions.
The transition rule in regulation 4 is where most of the operational detail sits. The new Ramsar-related amendments do not apply to a project authorised by a planning permission granted before 17 August 2020, or to a project authorised by a general consent where the relevant date was before 21 May 2026. The result is not a single universal cut-off date. Project-specific planning permissions are tested against 17 August 2020, while general consents are tested against the date the Schedule 5 changes came into force. That distinction will matter in live schemes where teams are reviewing whether an existing consent remains outside the new regime.
The regulations also settle how the date of grant is worked out for permissions issued under section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Where a section 73 permission is involved, the instrument says the relevant date is the date on which the previous permission was granted, not the later section 73 variation. This is a technical point with clear consequences. A later section 73 permission does not reset the clock for the purpose of the transitional exemption. Planning authorities and project lawyers will therefore need to trace the permission history back to the underlying permission before deciding whether a scheme is protected by the pre-17 August 2020 rule.
The definition of general consent is also important. The regulations use that term for permissions granted under or by virtue of Part 3 of the 1990 Act for a class or description of development through an order, scheme or zone, rather than through a standalone planning permission for a specific development. For prior approval development consent, the relevant date is the date when prior approval was given, when a determination was made that prior approval was not required, or, where the consent depended on a prior approval screening step, when the period for making that determination expired. For any other general consent, the relevant date is the date the development was commenced. In practice, that places weight on keeping clear records of prior approval decisions, screening outcomes and commencement evidence.
For projects moving through planning now, the immediate question is whether the authorisation route was a planning permission or a general consent, and then which date applies under regulation 4. For project-specific permissions, the dividing line is 17 August 2020. For general consents, the dividing line is 21 May 2026. Anything outside those exemptions will need to proceed on the basis that Ramsar sites in England are now subject to the same statutory assessment treatment as European sites. Although this is a short commencement instrument, its effect is immediate and practical. It changes how habitat risk must be handled for a range of future planning decisions, while preserving the previous position for a defined set of older authorisations. The explanatory material also confirms that an impact assessment was produced for the Act as a whole, which will be relevant context for authorities and applicants assessing compliance costs and programme risk.