National Planning Policy Framework Consultation Draft: Plan-making and National Decision-making Policies

A fresh format

As many have noted, at first glance the most glaring change in the latest version of the NPPF, is in the formatting, including the shift from paragraphs to policies which aside from making a like for like comparison slightly trickier, is welcome from a more pedantic perspective! In addition, policies have been reorganised under clear headings making it easier to find relevant sections within the document. The total page count is slightly longer however this draft of the NPPF includes the following additional annexes which seem to support the ambition for clearer guidance (all in one place!):

• Annex C: Information requirements
• Annex D: Housing calculations and supply
• Annex E: Green Belt assessments

As well as retaining:

• Annex A: Implementation, B:Glossary and Annex F: Managing flood risk and coastal change.

As an aside, Annex A helpfully highlights the ‘Written Ministerial Statements and other planning policy documents superseded by this Framework’.

A clearer, more specific set of policies

With regards to content, many changes are subtle and aimed at: providing clearer national planning guidance, accelerating and simplifying plan making, supporting economic growth and increasing housing delivery.

Some key changes are discussed below.

Firstly the new draft NPPF makes reference to spatial development strategies and the expectation that development plans include clear spatial strategies setting clear expectations for the location of development

The presumption in favour of well connected development

With regards to the presumption in favour of sustainable development and its application in decision-making, the familiar paragraph 11 c and d is replaced with ‘Policies S3: Presumption in favour of sustainable development’, ‘S4: Principle of development within settlements’ and ‘S5: Principle of development outside settlements’.

Crucially Policy S5 sets out the forms of development that would be approved outside settlements (unless the benefits of doing so would be substantially outweighed by any adverse effects, when assessed against the national decision-making policies in this Framework), including the following:

h. Development for housing and mixed-use development which would be: within reasonable walking distance of a railway station which provides a high level of connectivity to jobs and services; physically well-related to a railway station or a settlement within which the station is located; is of a scale which can be accommodated taking into account the existing or proposed availability of infrastructure; and where the development would not prejudice any proposals for long-term comprehensive development in the same location;

j. Development which would address an evidenced unmet need (including, but not limited to, development proposals involving the provision of housing where the local planning authority cannot demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable housing sites7 or scores below 75% in the most recent Housing Delivery Test28), and where the development would: i. ii. be well related to an existing settlement (unless the nature of the development would make this inappropriate) and be of a scale which can be accommodated taking into account the existing or proposed availability of infrastructure; or comprise major development for storage and distribution purposes which accords with policy E3.

This aligns with the Government’s recent announcement that housing around train stations will be given a default ‘yes’. What does not appear to have been taken into consideration is how well connected the development locations are in terms of other public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure; and how the needs of non-commuters will be served from a transport and connectivity perspective.

More succinct and standardised Local Plans and requirements

Under ‘Plan Making Policies’ and ‘Policy PM2: Local Plans’, LPAs are required to prepare and adopt Local Plans within 30 months and to then begin the preparation of the next plans within 5 years. ‘PM6: General principles for Plan-making’ seeks to avoid any duplication of national policy in plans and seeks to ensure that local plans only include policies necessary and relevant to the plan being prepared. This should make for much shorter and accessible documents, ensuring that these can be prepared within the proposed 30 months timescale.

The draft Framework introduces a new policy ‘DM2; Information requirements’, which seeks to simplify and standardise planning application requirements; the policy requires that LPA validation checklists refer to Annex C of the framework and that they only include additional information requirements where these are tied to a specific development plan policy. The application of the additional requirement(s) should be proportionate to the scale of the development and potential impact. Through this policy the Government is also keen to ensure that small and medium developments are not subject to the same information requirements as major proposals.

There is a new policy ‘D5: Development Viability’ that sets out guidance for viability assessments submitted with a development proposal; these should ‘fully evidence all inputs and assumptions used in the assessment, and explain any differences from those used for viability assessment that informed the relevant plan policies’.

A new ‘medium development’ category

The ‘medium development’ category is a new category introduced in the draft document which for housing refers to sites of 10-49 homes, and in general to sites with an area of up to 2.5ha. This category is designed to support SME housebuilders and ‘to support a more streamlined and proportionate planning system’; as part of the consultation document, the Government also seeks views on extending the Permission in Principle threshold to include medium development and to extent the Building Safety Levy exemption to this category of development.

Meeting a range of housing needs and building out at pace

The framework also includes a ‘Policy HO9: Specialist forms of accommodation’ which provides guidance for the development of housing for older people, specialist community-based accommodation and purpose-built student and large-scale scale shared living accommodating.

‘Policy HO13: Build out of residential and mixed-use development’ floats the idea of using planning conditions to require commencement of development within shorter periods than statutory timescales

Economic growth and the UK Industrial Strategy

With regards to economic development the draft document now refers to the ‘Invest 2035: The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy’ encouraging plans to account for local business needs alongside wider opportunities for growth having regard to identified Industrial Strategy Zones and AI Growth Zones.

Effective use of land to be tested at Local Plan examination

‘Policy L1: Planning for an effective use of land’ brings further clarity to how the Government expects LPAs to reflect the policy locally, highlighting that the extent to which development plans maximise the use of previously developed land and use minimum densities to accommodate their identified development need will be tested robustly when plans are examined.

Development not inappropriate in the Green Belt now includes sites that are well connected to the railway network

‘GB7: Development which is not inappropriate in the Green Belt’ also brings further clarity to development in the Green Belt; this, as per the current NPPF includes development on grey belt land that would not ‘fundamentally’ undermine the purposes of the remained Green Belt across the area plan (g, i); but also includes mixed use or residential development  provided it is well connected to the local railway network, be of appropriate scale, not prejudice proposals for long-term development in the same location; and in the case of major development, comply with Policy GB8: The Golden Rules.

Other updates

Finally the draft NPPF introduces a new section on ‘Securing Clean Energy and Water’ which includes two new policies on planning for energy and water infrastructure, and decision-making on water infrastructure; ‘Policy N2: Improving the natural environment’ brings in a new requirement for swift bricks in new development; ‘Policy HC1: Planning for healthy communities’ requires development plans to set clear standards for the provision of outdoor recreational land.

Opportunities for our clients

Overall the updated NPPF, reformatting and clearer policy framework are welcome. The push for the standardisation of Local Plan preparation and of requirements sought by LPAs should simplify the planning process across all sectors.

Given our extensive work with SME housebuilders, the obvious benefits of the draft Framework come with the introduction of the ‘medium development’ category and in particular the proposed change to the Permission in Principle threshold to include this type of development. It is worth noting that additional policy easements linked to the medium category are proposed, outside of the current consultation including: increasing the BNG threshold and exemptions, reforms to the operation of planning committees; and the application of build out transparency measures in relation to medium sites.

In addition, the presumption in favour of sustainable development for suitable development around railway stations should open up significant opportunities for developers delivering at different scales. Similarly, while not a most recent addition, the introduction of the grey belt land category has over the past year unlocked a number of sites on which development would have previously not been supported.

Do get in touch with the team if you would like to discuss the proposed changes to the NPPF in further detail or if you would like to understand how these might affect your site or development.