Draft National Planning Policy Framework reforms published
Reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) have been announced.
On 30 July 2024, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, announced the proposed changes to the NPPF.
These changes have been published in a government consultation which seeks views on the new Draft National Planning Policy Framework.
The new Labour government were quick to announce their reforms to the NPPF stating change was necessary in order to achieve sustainable growth in our planning system and build 1.5 million new homes.
Key changes proposed in the Draft National Planning Policy Framework include:
- a mandatory standard method for assessing housing, requiring local authorities to plan for the resulting housing need figure and planning for a lower figure only when they can demonstrate hard constraints and the exhaustion of all other options;
- reversing of the changes made to the NPPF by the former Conservative government back in December 2023 which were detrimental to housing supply;
- implementing a new standard method and calculation to ensure local plans are ambitious enough to support the Government’s manifesto commitment of 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament;
- broadening the existing definition of 'brownfield land', and set an expectation that applications on brownfield land will be approved and plans should promote an uplift in density in urban areas;
- identifying grey belt land within the Green Belt, to be brought forward into the planning system through both plan and decision-making to meet development needs;
- improving the operation of ‘the presumption’ in favour of sustainable development, to ensure it acts an effective failsafe to support housing supply, by:
- clarifying the circumstances in which it applies, and
- introducing new safeguards, to make clear that its application cannot justify poor quality development;
- delivering affordable, well-designed homes, with new “golden rules” for land released in the Green Belt to ensure it delivers in the public interest;
- ensuring local planning authorities are able to prioritise the types of affordable homes their communities need on all housing development and that the planning system supports a more diverse housebuilding sector;
- supporting economic growth in key sectors, aligned with the Government’s industrial strategy and future local growth plans, including laboratories, gigafactories, datacentres, digital economies and freight and logistics;
- delivering community needs to support society and the creation of healthy places; and
- supporting clean energy and the environment, including through support for onshore wind and renewables.
Alongside amendments to the NPPF the government is also consulting on views relating to wider planning policy proposals. These relate to:
- proposals to increase some planning fees, including for householder applications, so local planning authorities are properly resourced to support a sustained increase in development and improve performance;
- possible updates or removal of the local plan intervention policy criteris, so the Government can intervene where necessary to ensure housing delivery; and
- whether the way that the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime applies to onshore wind, solar, data centres, laboratories, gigafactories and water projects, should be reformed.
The consultation into Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, is open to responses until 24 September 2024.
So far the proposed changes have been welcomed, with Chief executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute, Victoria Hills, stating that the proposed changes “have the potential to rebuild trust” in the planning system and said the emphasis on strategic planning was “particularly encouraging”.
Chief executive of the Home Builders Federation, Neil Jefferson, called the proposed NPPF changes: “The first and most important step ministers have taken in addressing the barriers to delivering new homes”.
Adding: “The planning system has long failed to provide the amount of land needed to address affordability pressures but in recent years the elimination of housing targets has led to housing supply plummeting. A reformed, more progressive planning system that requires local authorities to meet their communities’ housing needs is a major step forward to address the barriers to delivery.”
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