The Government has revised its planning policies for England
The reintroduction of mandatory housing targets and restoration of five-year housing land supply rules were among the changes set out in the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published before Christmas.
The framework – which sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how these should be applied – also includes updates on the approach to developments in the ‘grey belt’, with more details expected this month.
The Government is prioritising the preparation and maintenance of local plans in order to deliver housing and other development ‘in a sustainable manner’, and has made other announcements on planning issues including localising planning fees, funding to support delivery of local plans, and support for the build-out of sites with planning permission.
You can read more about some of the changes to the NPPF and other planning reform proposals below.
Ahead of the revised NPPF, the Government also published a planning reform working paper on modernising planning committees. The paper invites views on how the Government could reform planning committees to support a plan-led system and ensure appropriate democratic oversight.
Proposals include that planning applications that meet local development plan requirements would not need to go before council committees, with planning officers given a strengthened role in decision-making and committee members getting new, mandatory training.
While councils recognise that swift decision-making on planning applications is critical, it’s essential that reforms consider the importance of local, democratic decision-making, and the LGA will be engaging with government on the proposed changes to planning committees.
The LGA has also flagged that, with nearly 9 in 10 applications granted, people cannot and do not live in planning permissions. Councils are currently limited in the role they play in facilitating private housebuilding – they grant planning permission, but it is up to developers to build the houses.
If the Government is to achieve its ambitious target of delivering 1.5 million homes over the current Parliament, councils need to be given greater powers to incentivise the build-out of sites by developers once sites have been allocated and granted permission.
These would include ‘use it or lose it’ reforms, such as being able to charge full council tax for every unbuilt development from the point the original planning permission expires; and compulsory purchase powers to acquire stalled housing sites or sites where developers do not build out to timescales contractually agreed with a local planning authority.
Planning is about creating communities linked with the right economic activity and public services, while conserving and enhancing the natural and local environment. Local democratic discretion and flexibility need to remain important elements of the planning system.
LGA support for planners
The LGA’s Planning Advisory Service (PAS) provides high-quality help, advice, support and training on planning and service delivery to councils, helping officers and councillors to stay effective and up to date using a ‘sector-led’ improvement approach.
PAS is hosting a series of webinars in January and February, providing structured briefings on the key changes in the National Planning Policy Framework, with updates from senior officials at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Further details, including registration information, is available on the LGA website.
Planning reform
House building targets
The NPPF reintroduces mandatory house building targets for councils. Revised planning practice guidance on assessing housing needs and additional guidance on setting a housing requirement have been published.
Local plans
Planning authorities have until 6 March to produce an updated local development scheme setting out clear, realistic and specific dates for consultation on, and submission of, their local plan.
Land supply
The Government confirmed that local planning authorities are again required to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. There are many authorities whose local housing need figures will be substantially larger than their adopted or emerging local plan housing requirement figures. To help close the gap, a new requirement is being introduced – that authorities with plans adopted under the old standard method provide an extra year’s worth of homes in their five-year housing pipeline.
Grey belt
The ‘grey belt’ policy will be introduced, and the NPPF provides a definition of grey belt as “land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and/or any other land that, in either case, does not strongly contribute” to specified purposes. Further guidance for local authorities will be released this month to ensure a consistent approach to Green Belt land.
Affordable housing in the Green Belt
The Government believes local planning authorities are best placed to set tenure mix, but notes concerns that a national 50 per cent affordable homes target could lack flexibility and fail to account for regional variation. So, it will allow local planning authorities to set their own ‘Golden Rules’ in relation to affordable housing through their new local plans. To balance the need for an ambitious affordable housing target with the viability challenges that may occur, particularly in low-value areas, it will adopt a ‘policy plus’ approach, in which Green Belt development should deliver an amount of affordable housing that is 15 percentage points above the relevant local affordable housing target that would otherwise apply, subject to a cap of 50 per cent.
Build-out
The Government plans to bring greater transparency and accountability, and take the steps necessary to implement build-out reporting. This includes implementing provisions in the Levelling–up and Regeneration Act 2023 (following technical consultation) that would: require housing developers to formally notify planning authorities before they commence development and to then report annually on actual housing delivery; and empower planning authorities to decline future planning applications made by developers who fail to build out earlier planning permissions granted on land in the authority’s area at a reasonable rate.
Localisation of planning fees
The Government has announced that it intends to take forward measures in the proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill to introduce a power for local planning authorities to set their own fees. It will conduct a comprehensive review of all national fees to establish a baseline for full cost recovery of fees and to inform a national default fee. The Government intends to pursue a model that would enable local variation from a national default fee. In varying or setting their own fees, local authorities will not be able to set fees above costs.
- Read the LGA’s factual briefing on ‘Revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other announcements on planning reform’. The NPPF itself, which came into effect immediately, is available on gov.uk. See the discussion paper on planning committees.