On 30th January MHCLG announced a consultation on proposed updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in England.
A National Model Design Code was also published as a sister document. Both documents are now available for public comment until 27th March and Savills anticipate them becoming part of national planning policy later in the Spring.
The updates are intended to implement policy changes in relation to the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission report. The National Model Design Code sets out requirements for the policies proposed in the NPPF, and taken together, these have the potential to transform the way we plan and build places.
David Jackson, Head of Planning at Savills, said: “The strengthened requirement for sustainable development that contributes to core sustainability objectives is notable in the proposed updates to the NPPF. Development must take into account climate impacts and biodiversity gains, while being of beautiful design, as a key requirement of planning and the consultation document makes this clear. This in turn raises the prospect of local plan strategies and decisions in relation to planning proposals having to demonstrate better place making outcomes both in terms of sites being allocated and schemes winning approval.”
Good quality design features throughout the revised NPPF, with ‘beautiful’ added to the definition of sustainable development in national policy for the first time. Reference is added to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development which will now be relevant to plan-making and decision-taking if adopted. ‘Sustainable development’ should now ‘protect and enhance’ the natural, built and historic environment and the definition is also amended to include improving biodiversity as an environmental objective. Detail provided in later paragraphs includes access to nature as a feature of good design, and the weight given to design in decision-making strengthened through requirements for compliance with local and national design guides.
In other proposed changes, the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ has been amended for plan-making, and now includes reference to making effective use of land, aligning growth and infrastructure, mitigating the effects of climate change and improve the environment..
The timescale for strategic policies has been amended, with larger-scale developments or new settlements to be considered in policies with a 30-year vision, as opposed to the more typical 15-year horizon, raising associated questions regarding implications for housing and development delivery assessments. Large-scale developments should be planned so as to ensure a choice of transport options is available, with specific references made to cycling.
The tests of soundness are largely unchanged, although reference has been added to compliance with national policies (plural), emphasising the importance of documents such as the National Model Design Code and potentially signalling a return to publication of additional national guidance documents, which the 2012 NPPF had sought to encapsulate into a single document.
As may be expected, there are no significant changes to Green Belt policy, but amendments to what may not be considered ‘inappropriate’ development in the Green Belt could give encouragement to Community Right to Build or Neighbourhood Development Orders. There are changes to policies relating to development within AONBs and National Parks, where the setting of such designated areas must now be a consideration in decisions regarding proposed development, thus giving greater emphasis to landscape and visual assessments in such decisions.
Amendments reflecting high profile events of 2020 are also incorporated, including measures to safeguard statues, plaques and monuments. There are also additions relating to flood risk and the Housing Delivery Test, which is to be measured against ‘homes delivered’ rather than net additional dwellings. Guidance on the use of Article 4 Directions, (by which automatic planning rights can be controlled) is also provided, in particular in relation to change of use to residential permitted development rights. This has been updated to clarify the criteria that local authorities should consider when seeking to restrict the application of additional permitted development rights recently announced by Government.
It is important to note that for the moment this is a consultation document rather than adopted policy, and also to reflect on what is not included – there is no update on what the Government proposes to do in respect of affordable housing thresholds or the First Homes tenure, both first announced in August 2020.
The updates to the NPPF represent amendments to the existing Framework rather than the wholescale changes to the planning system as set out in the Planning White Paper, indicating these updates may represent an interim measure ahead of more fundamental changes still to come.