Revised NPPF clarifies roles of different types of plans and considerations in decision-making, Minister tells councils

In a letter to all councils, the minister said the new NPPF would clarify policies throughout the Framework: “including setting out more clearly the respective roles of different types of plans and what needs to be considered in decision-making (e.g. how transport impacts, pollution, heritage, protected landscapes and safety for women and girls should be reflected in planning decisions)”.

Pennycook said the revised NPPF would see an increase in “the ambition of the ‘default yes’” for development around well-connected stations and also by expanding this policy to include the top 80 travel-to-work areas, calculated by Gross Value Added, as opposed to the top 60 proposed in the original consultation.

There will also be measures to encourage more types of development within the curtilage of residential properties.

Policy changes will support increased densities and minimum densities will be tailored to maximise overall supply by allowing more dense developments around rail stations and other locations where these can be supported.

The framework will also require flexibility when applying parking standards to large retail and similar redevelopment schemes with the intention of making regeneration easier.

A “consistent and distinct category of sites comprising around 1,500 units or more” will be established with policies tailored to encourage building.

Quantitative standards in development plans “should be limited to matters where local variation is justified and setting out clearly the circumstances in which local standards for energy efficiency and internal layout may be justified,” Pennycook said.

There will be additional support for pubs and protected landscapes.

The minister has also published the government’s response to a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system.

Sport England will be retained as a statutory consultee, but with a narrower range of planning applications on which it must be consulted.

The Gardens Trust and Theatres Trust will lose statutory consultee status but a new notification requirement will replace this.

Active Travel England, National Highways, Historic England and the Mining Remediation Authority will retain their status but with changes to how consultations will work.

Pennycook said he would keep the moratorium on the creation of new statutory consultees, “ensuring that the planning system remains targeted, proportionate and focused on supporting growth”.

He added: “Together, these reforms will reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, help local planning authorities reach decisions more quickly, and ensure statutory consultees can focus their expertise on the proposals that matter most.”

Mark Smulian