NPPF consultation - one more week to respond

The government sees improving the planning system in England as critical to creating the right environment for growth. On 30 July 2024 the government launched a consultation entitled "Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system", which implements many of the government's manifesto pledges made during the 2024 general election (on which see Section 1 of the July 2024 issue of our Monthly TCPA Newsletter here). The consultation closes next week, on 24 September 2024. Everyone with an interest in development in England should consider responding.

The consultation is comprehensive and wide-ranging, containing proposals to reform the planning system in England to speed up housing delivery and encourage development required to support economic growth, including commercial and "other" development such as infrastructure. It:

• proposes changes to the NPPF which are to be implemented by the end of 2024 – these are set out in a marked-up version of the NPPF showing the changes against the current December 2023 version;
• asks for views and feedback regarding further proposed changes to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA) and Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regimes, including changes to planning fees, local plan intervention and NSIP thresholds; and
• provides information about future changes to the TCPA regime, including indications as to which provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 that are yet to be implemented the government intends to progress.

We are given more detail on the government's new strategic approach to Green Belt release, defining the new category of "grey belt" land and setting out the "golden rules" for building on land released from Green Belt restrictions. The proposals also make the promised changes to the NPPF to restore mandatory housing targets (watered down by the previous government in the December 2023 NPPF revisions) and increase delivery of housing development, with a focus on genuinely affordable housing including housing for rent. The reforms aim to make it easier to build infrastructure which is "necessary to grow the economy", identified as laboratories, gigafactories, digital infrastructure and freight and logistics. In addition, the government seeks views on: strengthening intervention in local plan-making to ensure that every area has the benefit of a local plan; increasing funding and capacity of council teams; and new mechanisms for cross-boundary strategic planning.

Given that the consultation asks 106 questions on topics ranging across both the TCPA and NSIP regimes, we've prepared a detailed briefing to help our clients decide how to respond. The briefing analyses the proposals set out in the consultation document and highlights what else we learn about proposed changes to the planning system in England from documents published alongside/immediately after the consultation itself. For the briefing, click here.