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The National Planning Policy Framework and What it Means to You

April 3, 2012

At the recent National Homebuilding and Renovating Show, many of the questions asked were to do with the publication of the final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Here are some of the key points:-

• Its publication represents the biggest change to England's planning policy in years. The Framework is designed to provide guidance in plan-making and application decisions with over 1000 pages of national planning guidance condensed to just over 50.
• Local authorities are also recommended to set out policies which resist development of residential gardens where it could be seen to cause harm to the area. This follows a previous announcement that garden land is no longer classed as brownfield and therefore is no longer considered appropriate for extensive development. Although it does not recommend refusing this type of application it does indicate that planning permission will be harder to obtain for smaller self-build developments new developers often undertake.
• Local authorities should approve applications from Class B (business use) to residential.
• The NPPF has also strengthened the 'town centre first' policy of the government, a change from the draft document which was perceived to weaken this. Developers wanting to build out of town will have to demonstrate there are no suitable alternative sites in the centre (the so-called sequential test).
• Neighbourhood planning guidance is also set out in the NPPF and this states that neighbourhood plans should not promote less development than set out in the adopted local plan to ensure development is not impeded.
• In general the NPPF is pro-growth and clearly sets out the expectation that the planning process should not be a barrier to investment and should encourage sustainable growth. The final version of the NPPF has been welcomed by campaigners from all sides, although there are calls for greater clarity in some issues. The pro-growth drive of the first draft has been weakened by an acknowledgement that the NPPF has to sit in a balanced, plan-led system but this means that social and environmental factors are given equal weight to economic priorities.

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