August 2024 - National planning policy summary

by Blair Wallace

On Tuesday, the Government announced a new draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which is open for consultation until 24th September 2024. The purpose of the consultation is to obtain views on the Government's proposed approach to enabling sustainable growth in the UK’s planning system. Some key highlights include:  

Green Belt and Land Use 

• Review of Green Belt  

• Councils must review green belts when brownfield land is insufficient for development, prioritising ‘Grey Belt’ land. These would be exceptional circumstances but may be where an authority cannot meet its identified need for housing, commercial, or other development through other means. In these circumstances, authorities should review Green Belt boundaries and propose alterations to meet these needs in full, unless the review provides clear evidence that such alterations would fundamentally undermine the function of the Green Belt across the area of the plan as a whole. 

• Grey Belt 

• In the event that a local authority cannot meet its 5-year housing supply, or 75% of its Housing Delivery Test, development on Grey Belt sites would not be considered appropriate.  

• The definition of Grey Belt: ‘Grey Belt’ is defined 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 (as defined in para 140 of this Framework), but excluding those areas or assets of particular importance listed in footnote 7 of this Framework (other than land designated as Green Belt). 

• Agricultural Land Use 

• The availability of agricultural land for food production is no longer considered in deciding appropriate development sites, which provides more leeway to develop on areas included within the green belt. 

Housing and Development 

• Local Housing Need & Targets 

• The aim is to build 300,000 to 370,000 homes annually. Local housing need should be assessed using the standard method set out in national planning guidance. 

• Local authorities must set out 5 years’ worth of specific, deliverable development sites – these should be identified and updated annually. 

• Affordable Housing 

• For Green Belt development, at least 50% of the homes should be affordable with a minimum proportion of those being social rent homes, subject to viability. 

• High Quality Design 

• “Beauty” has been removed from the NPPF, with a return to a requirement for high quality design. 

Renewable Energy and Infrastructure Projects 

• Solar & Onshore Wind 

• The threshold for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) have been increased from 50MW to 150MW for solar, and 100MW for onshore wind. NSIPs require consent from the Secretary of State which will now make it more cost effective to bring the larger schemes through the local planning system. Unfortunately, however, this is likely to mean greater delays as larger projects are delegated to local level decision making.  

• Public Service Infrastructure 

• There is an emphasis on new, expanded or upgraded public service infrastructure alongside new home when considering proposals for development. 

• Planning Policies 

• New policies will need to recognise provisions for infrastructure that is needed to support the growth of data driven, creative or high tech industries as well as policies that support economic growth and resilience. 

• Proactive Site Identification 

• There is a greater expectation for local authorities to identify sites for renewable and low carbon development opportunities including supporting infrastructure where this would help secure their development.  

We would urge you to respond to the consultation, as we will be. Times of change lie ahead, and we are always looking forward as to how we can navigate our way through the everchanging planning policy to provide the most up to date advice and achieve the best results for our clients. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you wish to discuss anything mentioned in this article or see our website for more information on some of the types of projects we are involved in: https://www.tppguk.com/rural-consultancy