Minister unveils long-awaited National Planning Policy Framework

The government has launched a consultation on its long-awaited draft National Planning Policy Framework, with ministers suggesting that a simpler, swifter planning system was needed “where you don't need to pay for a lawyer to navigate your way around”.

The document is intended to streamline national policy from more than 1,000 pages to just 52. Ministers claimed that the volume and complexity of existing policy had made planning “increasingly inaccessible to all but specialists”.

The government said the framework “underlines the need for councils to work closely with communities and businesses and actively seek opportunities for sustainable growth to rebuild the economy; helping to deliver the homes, jobs, and infrastructure needed for a growing population whilst protecting the environment”.

A key aspect of the framework is the presumption in favour of sustainable development, which the government said meant that proposals should be approved promptly unless they would compromise the key sustainable development principles set out in the draft.

Councils will be required to work closely with businesses and communities to plan positively for the needs of each area, it said. The ‘town centres first’ policy approach will be maintained.

In terms of housing, the government said councils should ensure their local plan meets the full demand for market and affordable housing in their areas.

“The framework maintains the expectation that councils should have a rolling five-year supply of deliverable sites to meet their housing needs with at least a 20% additional allowance to create competition and choice in the land market,” it added. “They should also bring back into use empty homes and buildings wherever possible.”

Ministers insisted that “powerful protections for communities to safeguard the natural and historic environment” would underpin the proposed framework, and that the government remained committed to protecting the green belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

The government said all inappropriate development harmful to the green belt would remain prohibited. However, local authorities will be encouraged to positively enhance the use of green belt, “including by opening up walking routes, and improving biodiversity and damaged landscapes for the enjoyment of all”.

The draft is intended to help in the promotion of green transport and facilitate renewable energy projects. Local authorities “should seek to ensure good access to high quality local public transport for new developments, with priority given to cyclists and pedestrians”.

Communities will also be able – as suggested by the recent Natural Environment White Paper – to put forward local green spaces for special protection “whether its value is in its natural beauty, its historical resonances, its recreational value, its tranquillity or its richness in wildlife”.

However, these sites will be planned “so they complement and do not undermine investment in homes, jobs and other essential services”.

In relation to biodiversity, the framework stresses that the planning system should seek to enhance, not just protect. “Planning permission should be refused for development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats, including ancient woodland,” the government said. There will be new protection for peat bogs.

The framework calls on planners to seek to avoid noise pollution as a result of new developments. Planning decisions should also encourage good design to limit the impact of light pollution.

Planning Minister Greg Clark said: "Clarity in planning has become lost in translation. National planning policy and central government guidance has become so bloated that it now contains more words than the complete works of Shakespeare, making it impenetrable to ordinary people.

"We need a simpler, swifter system that is easier to understand and where you don't need to pay for a lawyer to navigate your way around. That's why we promised reform to make planning easier to understand and easier to use for everyone.”

Clark added: “Today's proposals set out national planning policy more concisely, and in doing so make clearer the importance of planning to safeguarding our extraordinary environment and meeting the needs of communities, now and in the future.”

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "Planning policy should be streamlined, succinct and to the point if it is to deliver the growth and sustainable development that this country needs.

"We understand that the new draft Framework follows closely the version submitted by the Practitioners Advisory Group which fully incorporated these principles. On that basis we will have no problem in giving today's Framework our ringing endorsement."

But the Town and Country Planning Association warned that the NPPF would need to be rigorously tested to ensure the proposed changes will deliver real improvements for individuals and communities.

Chief executive Kate Henderson said: "The Association supports the practical improvement of the planning process, so long as change is based on clear evidence and the outcomes promote sustainable development, and in particular social justice.

“The government's framework seeks to simplify and streamline planning policy, however in doing so there is a vagueness around some of the key concepts, such as the presumption in favour of sustainable development, which may be subject to clarification through the courts."

Henderson warned that making something shorter did not automatically make it clearer. “Planning has to deal with complex problems and sometimes needs detailed policy responses,” she said.

"It is also important to recognise that the NPPF will require more than just rhetorical force to ensure effective outcomes which work at both the local and national level. For example, sustainable transport measures are only encouraged ‘where practical'. In reality this may mean the lowest standard of transport infrastructure will be delivered, and does not give local authorities the means to demand high standards."

The Royal Town Planning Institute meanwhile described the draft framework as a “missed opportunity”.

President Richard Summers said the RTPI was concerned that the draft NPPF would not secure balanced economic and housing growth across England.

“It fails to set out a vision for the development that is needed to support a growing population and to promote economic growth across the country and that is effectively linked with infrastructure to redress existing and potential geographical and social disparities,” he said.

“Economic growth is generally set to trump the aspirations of local communities expressed in local and neighbourhood plans,” the RTPI President added, warning that the relationship between the presumption in favour of sustainable development and the primacy of locally-led development plans was unclear.

“It appears that the NPPF could direct local policies to be set aside to deliver the government’s growth agenda in response to market-led demands rather than to promote truly sustainable development for neighbourhoods and for local and wider than local areas,” Summers said. “However, it does begin to go in the right direction towards a National Spatial Planning Framework for England that the RTPI has campaigned for more than ten years.”

The draft National Planning Policy Framework can be found here.

The consultation will last 12 weeks, and will include workshops around the country. Both Houses of Parliament will be given the opportunity to scrutinise the draft framework.

Philip  Hoult