Chancellor unveils approach to delivering planning reforms, announces NPPF consultation and details how Levelling Up Secretary will ‘call in’ decisions

The newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has announced that a consultation on amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework will be launched by the end of the month as part of a series of "urgent" reforms to the planning system.

In her first speech in the role, Reeves also said the Government will end the ban on onshore wind in England and reiterated a number of planning commitments made in the party's manifesto, including building 1.5m homes, re-introducing mandatory housing targets and delivering 300 additional planning officers.

She also detailed how the new Levelling Up Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, plans to intervene in planning decisions where regional and national interests would benefit.

Speaking this morning (8 July), the Chancellor said she met with Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner over the weekend "to agree the urgent action needed to fix our planning system".

She said: "First, we will reform the National Planning Policy Framework, consulting on a new growth-focused approach to the planning system before the end of the month, including restoring mandatory housing targets.

"And, as of today, we are ending the absurd ban on new onshore wind in England. We will also go further and consult on bringing onshore wind back into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime, meaning decisions on large developments will be taken nationally not locally."

Reeves also noted that there will be "changes not only to the system itself, but to the way that ministers use our powers for direct intervention".

She reported that: "The Deputy Prime Minister has said that when she intervenes in the economic planning system, the benefit of development will be a central consideration and that she will not hesitate to review an application where the potential gain for the regional and national economies warrant it."

Rayner has already recovered two planning appeals, for data centres in Buckinghamshire and in Hertfordshire.

Reeves added: "To facilitate this new approach, the Deputy Prime Minister will also write to local mayors and the Office for Investment to ensure that any investment opportunity with important planning considerations that comes across their desks is brought to her attention and also to mine.”

The Levelling Up Secretary will also write to local planning authorities alongside the National Planning Policy Framework consulation, "making clear what will now be expected of them including universal coverage of local plans, and reviews of greenbelt boundaries,” the Chancellor said.

"These will prioritise brownfield and grey belt land for development to meet housing targets where needed.

"And our golden rules will make sure the development this frees up will allow us to deliver thousands of the affordable homes too, including more for social rent."

She also said the Government will give priority to energy projects in the system to ensure they make swift progress and will build on the spatial plan for Energy by expanding this to other infrastructure sectors. 

In addition, she announced plans to create a new taskforce to accelerate stalled housing sites beginning with Liverpool Central Docks, Worcester Parkway, Northstowe and Langley Sutton Coldfield, representing more than 14,000 homes.

Alongside the reforms aimed at boosting house building, the Chancellor said the Government "will also reform the planning system to deliver the infrastructure that our country needs".

"Together, we will ask the Secretaries of State for Transport and Energy Security and Net Zero to prioritise decisions on infrastructure projects that have been sitting unresolved for far too long."

The Government will set out new policy intentions for critical infrastructure in the coming months, ahead of updating relevant National Policy Statements within the year, the Chancellor said.

Responding to the speech, Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the Local Government Association, said: "National growth can only be achieved if every local economy is firing on all cylinders.

“Councils can play a vital role in unlocking labour markets, creating jobs, directing housing delivery, plugging skills gaps, and increasing productivity with devolved powers to run local skills and employment schemes and longer-term funding arrangements.

“We want to work closely with the Government to ensure new planning proposals deliver more high-quality affordable homes where they are needed, supported by the right infrastructure and are climate friendly."

Cllr Gittins added: “Any housebuilding targets will need to take account of local circumstances. Across England there are over a million homes allocated in local plans which are waiting to be taken up by developers. While these sites do not yet have planning permission, they have formally been identified as suitable for housing by councils.

“Councils need the proper levers to deliver proposals that genuinely support a faster build-out of schemes.”

Adam Carey