Planning reform: What can we expect?

The new Government was quick out of the blocks in publishing a draft revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The consultation period for responding to the proposed revisions to the NPPF has now closed. Whilst it was the Government’s original intention to review the responses received during the consultation period and to publish a revised NPPF before the end of 2024, this now appears to have been pushed back to the first quarter of 2025.

The proposed revisions to the NPPF include significant changes designed to facilitate the Government’s house building agenda. Perhaps the most significant are the proposed changes to the standard method for calculating housing need, the reintroduction of the requirement to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply and the introduction of the concept of Grey Belt land within the Green Belt. Other changes include the proposed introduction of ‘brownfield passports’, changes to the requirements in respect of affordable housing provision and proposed amendments to the weight of proposals contributing to meeting a net-zero future.

The standard method and five-year housing land supply

The revised draft NPPF reverses the changes made by the previous Government which provided that the standard method for calculating housing need should be treated as ‘an advisory starting point’.

The draft establishes the standard method as mandatory. Local authorities will no longer be able to claim ‘exceptional circumstances’ to argue for the use of alternative approaches to assess need and will be required to plan for the resulting housing need figure. They should only plan for a lower figure when they can demonstrate ‘hard constraints’ and have exhausted all other options. Further, local planning authorities will need to demonstrate they have taken all possible steps, including optimising density, sharing need with neighbouring authorities and reviewing Green Belt boundaries, before a lower housing requirement will be considered.

The proposed changes also include a revised standard method which will be calculated based upon a local authorities’ existing housing stock and the application of an affordability ratio. This will increase the significance of affordability. Further, the baseline stock figure would be adjusted upwards in areas where house prices are more than four times higher than earnings. The draft also proposes to use average affordability over the three most recent years for which data is available.

Changes made to the five-year housing land supply policy in December 2023 including the ability to show a four rather than five-year housing land supply in certain cases are proposed to be reversed. The draft also proposes to remove the ability of local authorities to set off previous oversupply of housing against upcoming supply and the ability of local authorities to ‘fix’ their five-year housing land supply through annual position statements.

Grey Belt and Green Belt hierarchy

The draft revised NPPF introduces the concept of Grey Belt land within the Green Belt which is defined in the draft as ‘land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and any other parcels and/or areas of Green Belt land that make a limited contribution to the five Green Belt purposes’.

It is proposed that land of environmental value would be excluded from the definition, as would assets of particular importance. The Government proposes that, in assessing whether land falls within the definition of Grey Belt, it should be considered whether the land makes a limited contribution to Green Belt purposes and will not strongly fulfil any Green Belt purpose.

The draft revised NPPF also proposes a sequential test to guide Green Belt releases. It is suggested that consideration should be given first to previously developed land within the Green Belt before moving on to other Grey Belt sites. Finally, consideration should be given to higher performing Green Belt sites as a final resort but only where such sites can be made sustainable. The draft revised NPPF provides that the release of land should not be supported where doing so would fundamentally undermine the function of the Green Belt across the area of the plan as a whole.

The draft revised NPPF also sets out the ‘golden rules’ which would be applied to major development on land released from the Green Belt, such developments should benefit both communities and nature. In the provision of housing schemes, at least 50% of the housing provided should be affordable housing, with an appropriate proportion being social rent, subject to viability. Such developments should also provide necessary improvements to local or national infrastructure and new, or improvements to existing, local green spaces that are accessible to the public.

Brownfield passports

The draft revised NPPF proposes the introduction of ‘brownfield passports’ which will reinforce the expectation that development proposals for homes and other identified needs on suitable brownfield land within settlements should be viewed positively.

The new paragraph 122 – states that such proposals ‘should be regarded as acceptable in principle’. This makes it clear that the default answer to the development of brownfield sites should be yes.

Changes to affordable housing provision

The draft revised NPPF introduces an expectation that housing needs assessments explicitly consider the needs of those requiring social rent and that local planning authorities specify their expectations in respect of social rent delivery as part of broader affordable housing policies. It is also proposed to remove the requirements to deliver at least 10% of the total number of homes on major sites as affordable home ownership and the requirement that a minimum of 25% of affordable housing units secured through developer contributions should be first homes.

Onshore wind and renewables

The Government is proposing onshore wind re-integrated into the NSIP regime and to set the threshold at which onshore wind projects are determined as nationally significant at 100 megawatts and increase the same threshold for solar projects to 150 megawatts.

The draft revised NPPF proposes amendments to existing paragraph 163 of the NPPF to direct decision-makers to give ‘significant weight’ to the benefits associated with renewable and low-carbon energy generation and proposals contributing to meeting a net-zero future.

The proposed amendments also seek to set a stronger expectation that authorities proactively identify sites for renewable and low carbon development when producing plans, where it is likely that in allocating a site, it would help secure development.

The above paragraphs are only a taste of the changes proposed by the Government in the draft revised NPPF. There are a number of other changes and I encourage you to read the draft revised version here.

If you have any questions regarding the proposed changes and the possible implications of the proposed changes for your organisation, please contact Stuart Evans or Max Howarth.

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