Consultation on reforms to national planning policy: Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

Consultation on “Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy” began on 22 December and runs for just over two months until Thursday 2nd March 2023. The consultation sets out NPPF amendments intended to be made quickly:

• Discusses the potential scope of a future NPPF consultation, to be carried out alongside a consultation on the first National Development Management policies
• Proposes other policies and legislation that would be enabled by Royal Assent of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill
• Includes policy and legislation related to other primary legislation and topics

The consultation includes draft revised text and a proposed direction of travel for national policy flowing from the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill’s anticipated Royal Assent in the Spring.

Backbench rebellions against planning and new home delivery

The consultation’s focus is on speedy changes to the NPPF that are intended respond to November’s backbench rebellions. Subject to the consultation outcome, changes to the NPPF are to be published by Spring 2023, or perhaps during Spring 2023, given that the consultation ends on 2nd March.

The Government also intends to reset its purported course to deliver 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s and to secure more quality homes in the right places through the adoption of local plans.

To these ends, six of the eight bullets (below) that summarise the proposed amendments to the NPPF, relate solely to housing:

• “make clear how housing figures should be derived and applied so that communities can respond to local circumstances;
• address issues in the operation of the housing delivery and land supply tests;
• tackle problems of slow build out;
• encourage local planning authorities to support the role of community-led groups in delivering affordable housing on exception sites;
• set clearer expectations around planning for older peoples’ housing;
• promote more beautiful homes, including through gentle density;
• make sure that food security considerations are factored into planning decisions that affect farm land;
• and enable new methods for demonstrating local support for onshore wind development”.

No immediate changes to the standard method to calculating local housing need are proposed.

"Building enough of the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure"

Annex 1 of the NPPF is to be updated to provide additional transitional arrangements.

The Government says the consultation “will allow us to swiftly deliver the government’s commitments to building enough of the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure, ensuring the environment is protected and giving local people a greater say on where and where not to place new, beautiful development. They will also allow us to deliver cheaper, cleaner, more secure power in the places that communities want to see onshore wind”.

Throughout the document, changes that go beyond this are described as forming part of next year’s wider or fuller review of the NPPF.

Further consultations on wider policy changes to the planning system and new home delivery

Further consultations will follow this year, including significant proposed changes to the Framework itself, depending “on the implementation of the government’s proposals for wider changes to the planning system, including the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill”. Those anticipated within the document include:

• the first draft National Development Management Policies
• NPPF refocused on plan-making policies
• potential ways to improve developer accountability and, in particular, take account of past irresponsible behaviour in decision-making
• introduction of a financial penalty against developers who build out “too slowly”
• national policy on build out rates
• permitted development rights and design codes
• the design of the infrastructure levy
• increase to planning fees
• exploring how to do more through planning to measure and reduce emissions in the built environment, ahead of the wider NPPF review.
• Neighbourhood Priorities Statements (a formal input to a local plan) and Street Votes (will be ‘supported’ by the wider review of the NPPF (if the outcome is as consulted upon) - might consultation on the legislation associated with these proposals take place too?)
• review the implications on the standard method of new household projections data based on the 2021 Census, which is due to be published in 2024.
• the details of the “alignment policy” that will replace the duty to cooperate

Opportunities to engage and influence on housing delivery in the UK

It is clear that the Government intends for significant and far-reaching consultations on planning to take place during 2023.  Catesby Estates will be submitting representations as well as supporting the Land Promoters and Developers Federation (LPDF) through our membership with their response.

Catesby Estates and our in-house planning team will continue to monitor and analyse progress on the NPPF, Bill and associated policy and secondary legislation.

Read the full consultation here.