Westminster has signed Statutory Instrument 2025/1370 setting commencement dates for key parts of the Levelling‑up and Regeneration Act 2023 and the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025. Signed at 2:20 p.m. on 18 December 2025, the instrument creates two main start lines: enabling powers from 19 December 2025 and a larger package from 18 February 2026, with reporting duties beginning on 1 April 2026. The government text is published on legislation.gov.uk.

For developers and investors, the headline shifts are practical. Compulsory purchase documentation is being streamlined, vesting can be brought forward in defined cases, National Policy Statements move onto a five‑year review clock, development corporation powers are clarified and broadened, and Natural England begins work on Environmental Delivery Plans that will sit alongside a future nature restoration levy framework.

From 19 December 2025, regulation‑making powers kick in for three areas of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025: simplified information in CPO newspaper notices, earlier vesting options under general vesting declarations, and a route to advance vesting by agreement. On the same date, Natural England can start the groundwork on Environmental Delivery Plans, including scoping, consultation triggers and the machinery for administering and monitoring those plans, as well as the power to make regulations for a nature restoration levy.

The bigger wave lands on 18 February 2026. Sections requiring regular review of National Policy Statements take effect, adding a statutory expectation that NPSs are fully reviewed and updated at least every five years, with an extra Parliamentary hurdle for material policy changes. The instrument also adjusts the legal challenge process for NPSs and development consent decisions, a detail NSIP promoters and funders will want to factor into programme risk.

Compulsory purchase practice changes on the same February date. Conditional confirmation powers from the Levelling‑up and Regeneration Act 2023 go live for orders confirmed by authorities other than the Welsh Ministers, giving confirming authorities the option to authorise CPOs subject to conditions before powers are exercised. At the same time in England, the expedited general vesting declaration route becomes available where land is unoccupied or interests cannot be identified, and vesting can be advanced by agreement-both aimed at cutting long stop uncertainty.

Valuation mechanics also shift at the margins. The instrument enables directions so that, in specified cases, compensation in parish or community acquisitions is assessed on a basis that ignores the prospect of planning permission under section 14A of the Land Compensation Act 1961. That will matter for appraisals where land value uplift from speculative planning assumptions has previously driven negotiations.

Environmental Delivery Plans now move from concept to build‑out. Natural England must define area, development scope, environmental features and conservation measures, publish notifications when it decides to prepare a plan, and then administer, implement and monitor delivery. Public authorities have a statutory duty to co‑operate and provide reasonable assistance, which should tighten coordination across planning, infrastructure and habitat objectives.

The nature restoration levy is signalled rather than charged today. Ministers now hold the power to make levy regulations and approve charging schedules, but the numbers, geography and exemptions will come later. For finance teams, that is a clear early‑warning line item: model a range of per‑unit or per‑hectare charges against 2026–27 pipelines and watch for draft schedules emerging from Natural England’s plan work.

Powers for development corporations are tidied up from February. Overlaps in proposed new corporations are resolved in favour of the higher‑tier authority, objectives on sustainable development, climate change and good design are standardised across corporation types, and the list of infrastructure they can provide is equalised with Mayoral Development Corporations. That should reduce legal friction in forming bodies to deliver regeneration and housing at scale.

There are important cut‑offs. The new LURA 2023 amendments to the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 do not apply to CPOs where the first notice of making or draft preparation was published before 18 February 2026. Likewise, the expedited vesting changes do not affect compulsory acquisitions authorised before they commence. If you are mid‑process, check your notice dates and authorisation status before assuming the new regime applies.

Three dates to circle. 19 December 2025 unlocks regulation‑making and EDP preparation powers. 18 February 2026 starts the main operational changes across CPOs, NPS reviews, development corporations and much of the EDP regime. 1 April 2026 begins annual reporting by Natural England on its Part 3 functions. Between now and spring, developers should revisit land assembly timelines, refresh compensation assumptions, engage early on local EDP scoping and build a provisional nature restoration levy line into project costs.