By Richard Morison, Planning Director at Pegasus Group
The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) reflects the UK Government’s ambition for all population areas to have 5G Standalone by 2030. New policies strengthen Government support for high-quality communications, reinstating clear policy support for telecommunications infrastructure and increasing the positive weighting that decision makers should attribute to the deployment of high quality communications. It also provides greater clarity on the importance of digital infrastructure and high-quality connectivity across the country.
This is a much-welcome lifeline for mobile operators and developers who have typically had to endure a restrictive and bureaucratic environment for securing planning permission. Despite telecoms networks being classified as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) — like data centres and energy systems – many operators have argued in the past that the Government has not afforded the sector the same relief historically afforded to other areas.
The new NPPF changes this, and we expect explicit national policy support will raise the number of planning approvals within the UK telecoms sector. The measures to streamline the planning application process may also reduce the time it takes for applications to be processed.
What are the key measures in the NPPF affecting high-quality communications and 5G infrastructure?
Key measures include:
- Greater weight afforded to connectivity benefits: Under the revised NPPF, decision-makers are now directed to apply substantial weight to the wider economic and social benefits to the public of maintaining or improving network coverage across the UK. This represents a significant strengthening of national policy support, which aligns with the Government’s designation of telecoms infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).
- A more streamlined planning application process for telco infrastructure: The revised framework makes an effort to reduce administrative bloat and burdens on developers with respect to the supporting information they need to provide within a planning application. In particular, applicants no longer need to provide a summary of issues raised during engagement activities or explain how those issues have been addressed. This should help facilitate more efficient decision-making.
- Continued protection for existing digital communications networks. The NPPF maintains protections for established communications infrastructure, reinforcing the importance of safeguarding existing networks as demand for digital services continues to grow. Developers are now expected to consider the impact of their proposed schemes on existing electronic communication networks, and to ensure that development does not unnecessarily compromise network performance or future upgrades.
- Clearer support for telecoms infrastructure on rural and Green Belt land: The NPPF confirms that telecommunications infrastructure is acceptable in principle in countryside locations where a rural setting is required for operational reasons. It also clarifies that such development is not inappropriate within the Green Belt, as long as it has minimal impact on the openness of the Green Belt. This should give developers and operators greater certainty when seeking to extend coverage or improve connectivity in rural or underserved areas across the UK.
The NPPF’s planning reforms for high quality communications infrastructure changes course on a historically bureaucratic landscape – here’s why that matters for the UK
Like many other countries, the rollout of 5G Standalone in the UK has been slow. This is not down to failure from telcos but a desire to take “a more pragmatic view rather than a race to the finish line,” as Liberty Global recently put it in an interview with Light Reading.
Still, the UK telco industry has made important progress industry to date. As of 2026, Virgin Media O2’s 5G SA networks now reach 85% of the UK, while EE has expanded its own 5G SA coverage to over 50 million people. And there is a significant opportunity still to go even further with this rollout, for a few reasons.
The first reason has to do with how 5G SA could boost productivity across the UK. Research conducted by Censuswide on behalf of VodafoneThree claims one in three Brits feel unable to leave their home or office WiFi due to a lack of connectivity confidence. Over a third of people go further to say they could be more productive on the go. The gap here is that mobile coverage currently trails behind all 27 EU member states and every other member of the G8 according to data from Opensignal.
The second, and arguably much bigger reason for accelerating 5G rollout is AI. While 5G use cases have been spoken about in largely theoretical ways over the last decade, it is now widely understood across the telecoms industry that 5G SA will become a driving force for AI. As AI adoption grows, the UK’s mobile networks are expected to carry a tremendous volume of AI-related traffic from consumers and businesses.
The NPPF’s reforms are therefore rather timely, given that the UK’s main mobile operators are investing heavily in 5G SA technology. VodafoneThree has already committed £11bn to upgrade masts – indeed, around 96% of the upgrades the mobile operator needs to make are on existing sites.
At least half of those upgrades alone will require some form of planning permission, which has historically been a lengthy and bureaucratic process. Any planning delays risk creating a traffic crunch in the future that could see the UK falling behind in the AI race.
For this reason, we welcome the NPPF’s updates to the planning process for 5G infrastructure. Like data centres, telecoms infrastructure is considered Critical National Infrastructure by the UK Government, and any future planning reform on the national stage would do well to take heed of this to avoid inconsistencies in local planning determinations.
If you would like to discuss how these changes affect your project, please get in touch.
