The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy

On 22 December 2022, the Government launched its consultation seeking views on its proposed revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework and its proposed approach to preparing National Development Management Policies and the consultation has just closed.

It is envisaged that the Government will respond to this consultation in the spring of this year and will publish the framework revisions ‘so that policy changes can take effect as soon as possible’.

The proposed revisions include the following key points:

The Government will review the implications for the standard method of new household projections data based on the 2021 Census (due 2024). No changes are proposed in relation to the standard method formula itself in this consultation.

The consultation advises that planning guidance will be more explicit in relation to the types of local characteristics which may justify the use of an alternative method of assessing housing need, examples include areas which have a high percentage of elderly residents or an above-average proportion of students.

Local planning authorities will not be required to review and alter Green Belt boundaries even if meeting housing need would be impossible without such a review. Authorities will be able to take into account past over-delivery of housing when assessing housing need.

The requirement for local plans to be ‘justified’ will be replaced with an assessment of whether the local planning authority’s proposed target meets need so far as possible, takes into account other policies in the Framework, and will be effective and deliverable, This will not apply to ‘plans that have reached pre-submission consultation stage, plans that reach that stage within three months of the introduction of this policy change, or plans that have been submitted for independent examination’.

The uplift of 35 per cent to the assessed housing need for the 20 largest towns and cities in England is to be retained. The proposed revisions to the NPPF would require that this uplift is met, ‘so far as possible’, and will only be exported to surrounding areas where there is a voluntary cross-boundary agreement in place to do so.

An ‘alignment policy’ will replace the current duty to cooperate. The existing duty will, however, remain in place until those provisions come into effect.

Authorities with an up-to-date local plan will no longer be required to continually demonstrate a deliverable five-year housing land supply. ‘Up-to-date’ will mean that the housing requirement set out in strategic policies is less than five years old. The change is proposed to take effect when the revised National Planning Policy Framework is published. Local planning authorities will be allowed to include historic oversupply in their five-year housing land supply calculations.

Past ‘irresponsible planning behaviour’ by applicants such as persistently breaching planning controls or failing to deliver on their legal commitments to the community could be a material consideration when future applications are being determined.

There will be a deadline of 30 June 2025 for plan makers to submit their local plans, neighbourhood plans, minerals and waste plans, and spatial development strategies for independent examination under the existing legal framework. All independent examinations of local plans, minerals and waste plans and spatial development strategies will need to be concluded, with plans adopted by 31 December 2026 in order to be examined under existing legislation.

There will be a requirement for local authorities to start work on new plans within five years following the adoption of their previous plan, and to adopt the new plan within 30 months. Where local authorities fail to meet the 30 June 2025 submission deadline for ‘old-style’ plans they will need to prepare plans under the new plan-making system. Plans that become five years old or more during the first 30 months of the new system will continue to be considered ‘up-to-date’ for decision-making purposes for a period of 30 months from the date the new system starts.

The ability to prepare Supplementary Plans will replace the requirement for Authorities to prepare supplementary planning documents (SPDs) in the revised planning system.

Finally, the Government proposes to carry out further consultation in relation to how National Development Management Policies (NDMPs) are to be implemented. It is envisaged that NDMPs will cover planning considerations which apply regularly in decision-making across England or significant parts of it such as general policies for conserving heritage assets and preventing inappropriate development in the Green Belt and areas of high flood risk. There would be a public consultation before any NDMP was designated by the secretary of state.

For more information

For more information on reforms to national planning policy, please contact Max Howarth.

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