NPPF '24

Hot off the press: the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have now released an amended National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The NPPF is a cornerstone document in planning decision making and so any changes can and do have a significant impact locally. What do these proposed changes mean for community, town, and parish councils? And what next steps can you take?

Headlines of the new NPPF include:

1.      The proposed changes are significant in how plan making and decision taking will operate from the autumn – they not only reverse the changes made to NPPF23 but go at lot further in some policy areas

2.      Of those policy areas, the Green Belt is the most immediately affected, including directing how, when and why it should be reviewed and by defining ‘Grey Belt’ areas within it

3.      The retention of all the current provisions for neighbourhood plans, including their five year currency in the ‘tilted balance’ per §14, but the absence of a reference to them in any of the published documents and statements

There has been plenty of commentary from within the sector over the last few hours on the variety of planning policy documents and statements published by Government yesterday. As ever, probably the best summary is by planning lawyer, Zach Simons, on his excellent #planoraks blog.

We won’t therefore repeat all that here, but instead look at what this means from the bottom-up perspective taken by town and parish councils and neighbourhood forums on behalf of their local communities.

There seems no question that the Government expects LPAs to operate the plan-led system efficiently if they want to maintain control of events. Arguably, the prize and penalties for doing so/not doing so will be greater than ever before, most especially in areas covered by Green Belts.

LPAs will have to plan to deliver more homes – significantly so in some places – using more or less the same assessment and selection process as before, again with the exception of Green Belt areas. And although the Government intends to implement the new, much shorter Local Plan system, it is giving LPAs until December 2026 (instead of July 2025) to submit their Local Plans for examination under the current system. This may encourage some to speed things up and others to reconsult on amended Reg 18/19 plans, so those local councils that have already responded to consultations may need to look out for that.

The challenge for many in the meantime is to determine planning applications for major housing development in the face of out of date or aging Local Plans and of weak housing land supply positions. Those communities with neighbourhood plans made since Covid and that made sufficient housing site allocations will have at least a couple of years where their LPAs can re-tilt the balance back in favour of their plans. Otherwise, it seems the Government is giving a clear direction to LPAs and Inspectors of how it expects decisions to be weighted to support housing growth.

For those who have been working on a bottom-up approach to housing through their draft NPs, whilst the Government has not indicated NPs are necessarily a solution, the evidence bases being prepared may unlock valuable intelligence at a local level on how and where may be appropriate for additional houses (to control rather than be imposed upon) so continued dialogue with the LPA will be important. And local councils may need to be sharper in commenting on planning applications, especially as some LPAs may find it easier to approve housing schemes they might otherwise have refused to bolster their land supply positions.

In terms of funding, whilst Town and Parish Councils will shortly be looking at budget setting for 2025/26, the Neighbourhood Plan Support Programme remains open for applications for this current financial year, to spend up to £18,000 by March 2025 (including neighbourhood forums). There is therefore still plenty of time to make good progress now to enable our local communities to be ready for the new world.