Hot off the Press – revised NPPF published

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was revised on 19th December 2023 – the second revision during the calendar year. The main revisions focus on changes to the calculation of housing land supply, the amount of housing land that councils will need to identify, and the need for councils to have up to date local plans in place.

In a Ministerial Statement released the same day, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities stated that: ‘Too many local authorities have no up-to date plan, too many take too long to get their plan in place and too many plans do not deliver as they should. Even when plans are in place, too many local authorities take too long to determine applications, too many reject proposals which are in line with their policies, and officers’ recommendations, and too many fail to ensure a proper pipeline of housing delivery.’

Under the revised NPPF, more than 40% of English local authorities will no longer have to demonstrate a 5-year supply of deliverable sites for new housing – provided that they have an adopted Local Plan in place that is less than 5-years old and that plan identifies at least a 5-year supply of specific, deliverable sites.

The revised NPPF also states that some other authorities will only need to demonstrate a 4-year supply of housing land. This will relate to councils that have an emerging local plan that has either been submitted for examination or has reached a consultation stage, under Regulation 18 or Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, including both a policies map and proposed allocations towards meeting housing need.

The NPPF also confirms that local authority housing need figures produced by the Government’s standard assessment method are simply an ‘advisory starting-point for establishing a housing requirement for the area’.

Speaking on the day of release of the revised NPPF, Michael Gove said local authorities have the comfort of knowing that they need not redraw the Green Belt or sacrifice protected landscapes to meet housing numbers, subject to councils providing rigorous evidence justifying their departure from assessed housing need. Mr Gove confirmed that councils must do everything to identify other land suitable for development. He also revealed plans to introduce ‘sharper accountability’ in the form of league tables for planning authorities, showing the speed of response, the level of approvals and delivery against targets.

In addition to the revised NPPF, a list of more Councils that will be sanctioned (placed under the NPPF’s presumption in favour of sustainable development) was released. Those councils that have seen delivery of less than 85% of their housing requirement, will now have a 20% buffer added to their 5-year housing land supply target. The remaining 22 councils that failed the test scored between 85 and 95%, and will now be required to publish a housing delivery action plan demonstrating how their provision will be increased. The Ministerial Statement also confirmed additional financial and technical resources will be available to local authorities, as well as acknowledging that planning fees have increased by 35% for major applications and 25% for other applications.

A lot to take in - Watch this space for more updates and commentary on the implications of the revised NPPF!