Consultation on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system.
On 30 July the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government ('MHCLG') published a consultation on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework ('NPPF') and other changes to the planning system. The document sets out changes the Government propose to make, immediately following the consultation, to the NPPF :
- Make the standard method for assessing housing needs mandatory, requiring local authorities to plan for the resulting housing need figure, planning for a lower figure only when they can demonstrate hard constraints and that they have exhausted all other options.
- Reverse changes to the NPPF, made in December 2023, which were detrimental to housing supply.
- Implement 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.
- Broaden the existing definition of brownfield land, set a strengthened expectation that applications on brownfield land will be approved and that plans should promote an uplift in density in urban areas.
- Identify 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.
- Improve 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.
- Deliver affordable, well-designed homes, with new “golden rules” for land released in the Green Belt to ensure it delivers in the public interest.
- Make wider changes to ensure that 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.
- Support 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 – given their importance to our economic future.
- Deliver community needs to support society and the creation of healthy places.
- Support clean energy and the environment, including through support for onshore wind and renewables.
The document also asks for views on:
- Whether to reform the way that the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime applies to onshore wind, solar, data centres, laboratories, gigafactories and water projects, as the first step of the Government’s NSIP reform plans.
- Whether the local plan intervention policy criteria should be updated or removed, so the Government can intervene where necessary to ensure housing delivery.
- Proposals to increase some planning fees, including for householder applications, so that local planning authorities are properly resourced to support a sustained increase in development and improve performance.
Finally, the document sets out how and when the Government expects every local planning authority to rapidly create a clear, ambitious local plan for high quality housebuilding and economic growth.
The consultation closes on 24 September 2024. AREF's Residential Investment Committee are reviewing the consultation and considering a possible response from AREF.
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