New NPPF published in plan to get Britain building

Less than 12 months on from the publication of Michael Gove’s widely criticised (and what turned out to be last) National Planning Policy Framework in December 2023, Angela Rayner has formally published the first iteration of the NPPF under a Labour Government, alongside an update to the Housing Delivery Test.

 

Link to the NPPF  - NPPF December 2024

 

As widely expected, the published NPPF retains the majority of the key amendments first published in the consultation draft in July and will bring the national housing target for local authorities across England to a record 370,000 homes per year as well as bring major commercial development opportunities. 

 

Following Labour’s election win in the summer, both Sir Kier Starmer and Angelar Rayner have backed up their election manifesto with a series of unapologetic commitments to ‘back the builders, not the blockers’ and citing an inadequate planning system as a ‘blockage’ to Britain’s housing delivery and economic growth.

 

Here is DHA’s 10-point guide to the 2024 NPPF:

• Housing Need and Supply – Reference to ‘advisory’ housing targets has been removed and it is clear that the standard method forms the starting point for all new Local Plans, with the NPPF no longer permitting councils to use ‘exceptional circumstances’ in order to argue a reduced housing figure. All Councils must also now demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. However, where Plans with out-of-date targets are still in Place from July 2026, authorities will need to demonstrate an additional sixth year of housing supply.

 

• Standard Method – The formula has been revised with a much stronger emphasis on affordability. The 40% cap on increase and 20% urban uplift are both removed and have had the effect of significantly increasing the starting point for housing targets for many local authorities.

 

• Affordable Housing – The requirement to deliver at least 10% of the total number of homes on major sites as affordable is removed. As is the requirement to deliver 25% of affordable homes as ‘First Homes’. Further alterations are expected to enable local authorities to target securing social rented housing, rather than other forms of below market affordable housing.

 

• Green Belt (Plan-making) – Green Belt boundaries will be expected to be reviewed as part of the Local Plan where an authority cannot meet its housing, commercial or other development needs through other means. The release of Green Belt land will be via a ‘sequential approach’ giving first consideration to previously developed land within the Green Belt, before considering Grey Belt sites and finally undeveloped higher-performing Green Belt land, provided doing so would not fundamentally undermine the function of the designation across the area of the Plan as a whole.

 

• Green Belt (Decision-taking) – The definition of ‘Grey Belt’ has been confirmed* and introduces a new mechanism for ‘appropriate development’ in the Green Belt provided the ‘golden rules’ apply, requiring developers to provide necessary infrastructure, ‘premium’ levels of affordable housing and improve green space.

 

*Development on previously-developed Green Belt land will also be acceptable where it would not cause substantial harm, regardless of whether the proposals include affordable housing. Significantly, both amendments open the door for new commercial development opportunities on land in the Green Belt, previously limited typically to the replacement of, or limited extension to, existing commercial premises.

 

For the purposes of plan-making and decision-making, ‘grey belt’ is defined as land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and/or any other land that, in either case, does not strongly contribute to any of purposes (a), (b), or (d) in paragraph 143. ‘Grey belt’ excludes land where the application of the policies relating to the areas or assets in footnote 7 (other than Green Belt) would provide a strong reason for refusing or restricting development.

 

• Strategic Planning – The NPPF strengthens cross-boundary cooperation on strategic issues, paving the way for strategic planning covering “functional economic areas” within the current parliament.

 

• Economy – The NPPF includes new requirement to meet the needs of the modern economy, including suitable locations for uses such as laboratories, gigafactories, data centres, digital infrastructure, freight and logistics. Paragraph 86 also now includes the expansion and modernisation of other industries to support economic growth and resilience, whilst new and altered Green Belt exceptions allow greater scope for new commercial floorspace in the Green Belt.

 

• Highways – The new NPPF introduces scope for transport mitigation through a vision led approach and significantly increases the threshold of refusal for development on highways grounds to where there would be an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or residual impacts on the network would be severe, in all reasonable future scenarios.

 

• Design & Previously Developed Land – The NPPF removes reference to ‘beauty’ and the requirement to consider ‘local character’ when considering the ability to meet housing needs. The latest NPPF also further emphasises the expectation that development on previously-developed land should be considered acceptable in principle. The definition of previously-developed land has also been expanded to include fixed-surface infrastructure, such as hardstanding.

 

• Local Plans & Transitional Arrangements – The commitment to securing full up-to-date Plan coverage across the country is emphasises with an immediate 12-week deadline for all Council with Plans in excess of five years old to commit to a timetable for preparing a new Plan.

 

Detailed transitional arrangements are set out in Annex 1 of the new NPPF, confirming that policies in this version of the NPPF will apply from 12 March 2025, except in certain circumstances such as:

 

• The Plan has reached Regulation 19 (pre-submission stage) on or before 12 March 2025, and its draft housing requirement meets at least 80% of local housing need;
• the plan has been submitted for examination under Regulation 22 on or before 12 March 2025.

Plans already at examination will continue to be examined under the version of the NPPF they were submitted under, although must be reviewed as soon as possible where the housing target to be adopted is less than 80% of local housing need.

 

Plans that reach Regulation 19 (pre-submission stage) on or before 12 March 2025 and whose draft housing requirement meets less than 80% of local housing need should proceed to examination within a maximum of 18 months from 12 December 2024, or 24 months of that date if the plan has to return to the Regulation 18 stage.

 

Watch this space for further news over the coming weeks.....In the meantime, if you would like to discuss any of the above in more detail, please feel free to contact the team at DHA.