Planning responses to change: The year in review

Like many other areas of the law, the planning and environment space was disrupted by the pandemic.

From a policy perspective, 2020 can be characterised as a year in three parts:

• from January to March, the industry watched, waited and frantically sought to re-organise itself in response to the new demands around remote working and tremendous uncertainty about what the future would look like
• from March to May, some fairly radical legislative reforms were introduced in response to the pandemic to seek to keep businesses going and supply chains ticking over
• from May to December, an emphasis was placed on fast-tracking projects in the system to create an ongoing stimulus and economic opportunities.