Secretary of State writes to leaders and metro mayors on key changes to National Planning Policy Framework

In his letter, Steve Reed also set out the Government’s expectation that local planning authorities adopt “a pragmatic approach” when responding to requests to renegotiate Section 106 planning obligations, and outlined a package of support for local authorities in recognition that the reforms “represent significant change, which will require leadership and professional commitment”.

On the proposed revisions to the NPPF, the Secretary of State said: “The revised NPPF separates out policies for plan-making and decision-making. These changes are designed to make planning policy easier to use, underpin the development of faster and simpler local plans, and be more directive of decision-making in support of both appropriate housing and commercial development.”

He highlighted the following changes in particular:

• Streamlining local standards. We want to promote certainty for applicants and speed up local plan production by limiting quantitative standards in development plans to only those specific issues where local variation is justified. We are also proposing to prevent duplication of matters which are covered by the Building Regulations – other than where there is the existing ability to use ‘optional technical standards’.
• Immediate application of national decision-making policies. On publication of the final NPPF following this consultation, development plan policies adopted under previous versions of the NPPF that are inconsistent with the new national decision-making policies will be given very limited weight in planning decisions – ensuring these new national policies bite immediately.

Reed said: “Development plans will not be required to follow the revised NPPF until the final version is published. However, authorities preparing plans under the new plan-making system will want to consider the policies proposed in the consultation to help inform the early stages of your production.”

Turning to the “significant challenges” housebuilding has faced over recent years, the Secretary of State said the Government recognises it may be necessary in specific circumstances to modify existing planning obligations to improve the viability of housing developments in the near term.

He said: “The proper process for modifying or discharging planning obligations is set out in section 106A of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990. The Government expects local planning authorities to adopt a pragmatic approach when responding to requests to renegotiate Section 106 planning obligations, to facilitate timely decisions.

“The Government also recognises the practical constraints associated with the existing, statutory route to modify or discharge planning obligations via section 106A (effected by a ‘deed of variation’), and the limits that any policy or guidance reforms can achieve. The NPPF consultation therefore seeks views on the efficacy and use of existing statutory routes, to inform ongoing work to ensure there is an appropriate mechanism to modify or discharge existing planning obligations that provides confidence to both authorities and developers.”

He added: “As a general rule, attempts to revisit fundamental issues of viability or planning obligations through Section 73 applications should be scrutinised carefully, and the applicant should provide a robust justification for any changes proposed for planning obligations associated with the original permission beyond those linked to the specific variation of condition being sought.

“Where developers submit a Section 73 application that seeks to reduce affordable housing provision based on a new viability assessment, the decision maker should have regard to the harm that such a reduction may cause and give this appropriate weight in the overall planning balance, alongside the wider merits of the scheme.”

The Secretary of State said the Housing Minister had provided similar clarification to the Planning Inspectorate.

Reed added that the Government is also committed to implementing Section 73B through secondary legislation – a new route to vary planning permissions – which was legislated for by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.

As part of this implementation, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will provide guidance on the appropriate use of the three routes to vary permissions – s73B, s73 and s96A (which enables non-material changes to be made to planning permissions).

The Secretary of State said: “Section 73B should become the key mechanism for dealing with legitimate variations in a pragmatic way in response to changing circumstances over time, but it is not intended to allow developers more easily to reduce planning obligations already entered into, including for affordable housing, and Section 73B(5) will affect the extent to which that can be done.”

On the package of support, meanwhile, the Secretary of State said: “This Government knows how important it will be to bolster capacity and capability in planning departments up and down the country, which is why the Government is investing £48 million of additional funding to boost capacity in the planning system.

“In addition, alongside the draft NPPF, we have launched a new funding package to support decision making, providing £8 million to enable local planning authorities to accelerate planning applications for major residential schemes at the post-outline stage. This funding will be targeted at authorities with high volumes of deliverable applications in this Parliament, ensuring resources are directed where they will have the greatest impact and deliver much-needed homes.”

With respect to London, £3 million of this funding will be allocated to the Greater London Authority (GLA) to provide support to London boroughs, “helping to underpin the implementation of the emergency measures the Mayor of London and I announced on 23 October 2025”.