Consultation open on government’s draft revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework

Posted: 02/09/2024

The draft revisions for the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) were published by the new Labour government on 31 July 2024 and are out for consultation until 24 September 2024.

Key changes to the NPPF include;

• strengthening the presumption in favour of sustainable development;
• promoting the value of strategic planning in national policy by requiring local planning authorities to co-operate across borders;
• an increase in the target of national housing to 370,000 annually;
• requiring local planning authorities to adopt five-year housing land supply local plans; and
• reform of the green belt policy with the introduction of the ‘grey belt’.

but what new proposals have been made concerning the delivery of affordable housing?

First, in strengthening the presumption in favour of development, the NPPF emphasises the importance of giving weight not only to the location and design of housing development, but also to the provision of affordable homes.

Secondly, in terms of meeting housing needs, where there is a major housing development, local planning authorities’ policies and decisions should ‘expect that the mix of affordable housing required meets identified local needs, across both affordable housing for rent and affordable home ownership tenures’. Note that the new NPPF has deleted the requirement for the first 10% of the total homes to be affordable home ownership (ie ‘First Homes’).

Thirdly, in relation to the ‘grey belt’, the NPPF has introduced some development management policies (known as the ‘Golden Rules’), which are to specifically apply to grey belt land developments.

The NPPF requires such developments to allow for:

• (for housing schemes) the provision of at least 50% affordable housing (subject to viability);
•   relevant infrastructure improvements; and
•  provision or improvement of green spaces accessible to the public. It states that ‘the objective should be for new residents to be able to access good quality green spaces within a short walk of their home’.

So, for the provision of affordable housing in the grey belt, in practice, most schemes will be subject to viability testing, because not many schemes will be capable of delivering the provision of 50% affordable housing.

Finally, one area which has not been addressed by the NPPF is any change in policy on town centres, with regards to the continuing changes in the provision of retail, office, leisure and other town centre uses because of the impact of the pandemic, and the increased (and sustained) practice of working from home.

The latest NPPF can be found here.

Return to news headlines