The Transport and Works (Applications, Objections, Listed Buildings, Inquiries and Decisions Procedure) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 were made on 27 October 2026, laid before Parliament on 30 October and come into force on 20 November 2026. According to legislation.gov.uk, the instrument extends to England and Wales, but its transitional provisions divide cases into three groups: applications made on or after 20 November, earlier applications where no relevant inquiry notice has yet been issued, and older live cases that continue under the previous rules. (legislation.gov.uk) That staging matters for promoters, objectors and advisers already in the system. For applications made from 20 November, the full amendment package applies. For applications made earlier, only the inquiry-rule changes in regulation 3 can apply, and only where the written notice used in the 2004 inquiry procedure has not yet been issued. Any other application already further advanced is left under the existing regime. (legislation.gov.uk)
The instrument amends three separate procedural codes: the 1992 listed buildings procedure regulations, the 2004 inquiry rules and the 2006 applications and objections rules. The Explanatory Note says the package is intended to support the deemed listed building consent, conservation area consent and marine licence routes created by sections 43 and 44 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, while also introducing statutory deadlines for inquiries and decisions. (legislation.gov.uk) The Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 explanatory notes set out the policy direction behind the heritage changes. They state that the new powers are meant to remove the need for separate heritage consent applications for Transport and Works Act orders while keeping the existing statutory preservation duties in place. In practice, the 2026 Regulations provide the procedure needed to make that model work inside the order process itself. (legislation.gov.uk)
A clear England and Wales split now appears in the objection timetable. Under the amended 2006 Rules, the minimum objection period falls from 42 days to 30 days for England, while Wales remains at 42 days. The expiry date must be a working day, and where the last day would otherwise fall on a non-working day it moves to the next working day. The Department for Transport's updated GOV.UK guide reflects the same change. (legislation.gov.uk) For English schemes, that shortens the period between publicity and the next procedural step by 12 days against the old baseline. For objectors, it increases the need to review environmental material, land plans and supporting statements as soon as an application is published. Welsh objectors retain the longer 42-day period, but the amended rules now give a clearer statutory answer where the calendar end date lands on a weekend or bank holiday. (legislation.gov.uk)
The instrument also compresses several exchanges after objections are received. In the written representations route, the applicant's period to comment on objections falls from 28 days to 14, the objector response period falls from 21 days to 14, and the periods for passing material between parties fall from 7 days to 5, with a next-working-day rule for those 5-day stages. The 2006 Rules also add fixed three-month decision deadlines for unopposed cases, cases where all objections are withdrawn, written representations cases and hearings. (legislation.gov.uk) The Department for Transport's updated guide places those amendments in the wider process. It says the Secretary of State now has 14 days after the end of the objection period to decide whether a case should go to inquiry, hearing or written representations, subject to extension where there is good reason. Read together, the revised rules move the system towards earlier route selection and earlier decision dating. (gov.uk)
In the England-only inquiry amendments, the Secretary of State's statement of matters must be served within 10 weeks rather than 12. The inspector must propose or set a closing date no later than three months after the inquiry opens, that date must appear in the inquiry notice, and any later variation or suspension requires the Secretary of State's consent. The Department for Transport guide summarises the same package as a new statutory deadline for the length of the inquiry. (legislation.gov.uk) The same instrument then adds decision-date duties that reach further. In England, the inspector must submit the report within three months of inquiry completion. In both England and Wales, the Secretary of State must determine the application within three months of receiving the report or the last item of any additional information requested after it, and applicants and objectors must be told the decision date and any revised date if more time is allowed. (legislation.gov.uk)
The heritage and marine changes are as significant as the timetable cuts. The Regulations remove parts of the 1992 listed buildings and conservation areas procedure regime, and the Explanatory Note says that step is needed to facilitate the deemed listed building regime introduced by section 43 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025. Section 43 itself gives the Secretary of State power to direct deemed listed building consent for works in England, while the Welsh provisions allow Welsh Ministers to direct deemed listed building consent and deemed conservation area consent for works in Wales. (legislation.gov.uk) At application stage, anyone seeking deemed heritage consent must now submit a specific written request, proposed conditions and supporting documents. The English route requires a design and access statement, while the Welsh route requires a heritage impact statement under the 2024 Welsh procedure regulations. Parallel amendments deal with deemed marine licences: promoters must consult the Marine Management Organisation for English cases or Natural Resources Wales for Welsh cases before the pre-application submission, and must send a draft proposed marine licence at least 28 days before making the application. (legislation.gov.uk)
The 2006 Rules also gain a new step for cases that return from court. Where a determination is quashed, the Secretary of State must issue a written statement identifying the matters on which further representations are invited, and those representations must be submitted within three weeks. The Explanatory Note says this brings the applications and objections rules into line with the existing position under the inquiry rules. (legislation.gov.uk) There is also a narrower but still practical extension power where an applicant has been directed to pay inquiry or hearing costs and misses the payment date. In that situation, the Secretary of State may extend the decision deadline by the period between the missed payment date and actual receipt. For case teams, that creates a direct statutory connection between unpaid procedural costs and movement in the final decision timetable. (legislation.gov.uk)
For applicants, the combined effect is a more front-loaded process. Heritage, marine and supporting consent material now needs to be assembled earlier, and English schemes will move from publicity into objection handling on a shorter clock. For objectors, especially in England, the room for late engagement is reduced even though the regulations preserve notice, representation and hearing routes. That is the practical reading of the shorter statutory periods and the new three-month decision deadlines. (legislation.gov.uk) The Regulations therefore do two things at once. They give procedural effect to the deemed consent structure created by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, and they place firmer dates around how Transport and Works Act cases are processed, reported and decided. The Explanatory Note adds that no full impact assessment was prepared because the expected effects were below the threshold requiring one. (legislation.gov.uk)