National Planning Policy Framework
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The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a
land-use planning Land use planning is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. More specifically, the goals ...
policy in the United Kingdom. It was originally published by the UK's Department of Communities and Local Government in March 2012, consolidating over two dozen previously issued documents called Planning Policy Statements (PPS) and
Planning Policy Guidance Notes In the United Kingdom, Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPG) were statements of the Government's national policy and principles towards certain aspects of the town planning framework. These national policy documents were originally known as PPGs a ...
(PPG) for use in England. It has since been revised in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The NPPF pursues a pro-growth,
neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent f ...
and
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
ist agenda. As well as sweeping away the previous Labour government's top-down housing targets and regional planning strategies in conjunction with the Localism Act 2011, the NPPF introduced a presumption in favour of
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The ...
at the heart of the English planning system, which encourages local planning authorities to plan positively for new development, and approve all individual proposals wherever possible. The other core principles of the framework are of a genuinely plan-led system, empowering local people to shape their surroundings, and seeking high quality design and standards.


History

An outline of proposed reforms to the British planning system were published in a policy
green paper In the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth countries, Hong Kong, the United States and the European Union, a green paper is a tentative government report and consultation document of policy proposals for debate and discussion. A green paper represen ...
by the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
in February 2010 prior to that year's general election. It included integrating the principal features of all national planning policies into one document to make the many existing guidance documents clearer and more priority focused. Following the formation of the
Coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
, on 20 December 2010, the Minister for Decentralisation,
Greg Clark Gregory David Clark (born 28 August 1967) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities from 7 July 2022 to 6 September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as Member of P ...
MP, announced a review of planning policy, designed to consolidate all policy statements, circulars and guidance documents into a single, simpler National Planning Policy Framework. A consultation draft of the NPPF was subsequently published on 25 July 2011 which raised a large number of responses and concerns from national organisations such as the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. The final original version was published on 27 March 2012. Despite the pledge for a national policy of only fifty pages, the NPPF was released as a 65-page document, together with a 27-page Technical Guidance document, though this was still a large reduction from the previous guidance of over 1300 pages. Local planning authorities were given a 12-month transition period to ensure their plans were compliant with the new NPPF.
revised NPPF
was published by the UK Government's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 24 July 2018. This is the first revision of the National Planning Policy Framework since 2012. It implements around 85 reforms announced previously through the Housing White Paper, the planning for the right homes in the right places consultation and the draft revised National Planning Policy Framework consultation. The revised NPPF has since been updated on 19 February 2019 following a technical consultation to redefine deliverable housing. On 23 May 2019 the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a Written Ministerial Statement to remove paragraph 209a from the revised National Planning Policy Framework following a legal judgement.


Contents

# Introduction # Achieving sustainable development # Plan-making # Decision-making # Delivering a sufficient supply of homes # Building a strong, competitive economy # Ensuring the vitality of town centres # Promoting healthy and safe communities # Promoting
sustainable transport Sustainable transport refers to ways of transportation that are sustainable in terms of their social and environmental impacts. Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water or air transport; th ...
# Supporting high quality communications # Making effective use of land # Achieving well-designed places # Protecting Green Belt land # Meeting the challenge of climate change, flooding and coastal change # Conserving and enhancing the natural environment # Conserving and enhancing the historic environment # Facilitating the sustainable use of minerals


Criticisms


Archaeology

The potential negative impact of the NPPF on UK
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...
has been heavily debated, with archaeologists noting that there is likely to be considerable tension between the immediate-term impacts of the process of government deregulation in the NPPF and the medium-term impacts of another key government priority – its localism agenda as enshrined in the Localism Act of 2011, which places much greater planning control in the hands of local communities. The NPPF is likely to encourage development through its streamlined planning system, but the Localism Act of 2011 is equally likely to stall development through its commitment to local communities having a greater say in what is (and crucially is not) built in their neighbourhood, a process likely to block many developments.


Environment

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split wi ...
(FOE) has criticised the NPPF revisions for lack of environmental review, in that it makes it "virtually impossible" for councils to refuse fracking schemes, that it fails to address the problems in coal developments or on building within green belts, and that it introduces harsh rules for wind farms. FOE has argued that, as the United Kingdom is still part of the EU, a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) was required as part of the revision of a public plan. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has raised concerns about the extreme streamlining of the revised NPPF, indicating that it treats land as a commodity, rather than as a finite resource. CPRE said ''Planning is pointless if the outcomes it delivers would be little different from what would happen without a planning system.''


Planning Practice Guidance

Publication of the NPPF has been followed by the release of a wide range of online Planning Practice Guidance

As of 2019, the guidance extends to over 50 categories covering a wide range of subjects including Green Belt, Light Pollution and Viability. The amount of guidance in circulation has grown significantly in recent years meaning the volume of government planning advice is similar to what existed prior to the introduction of the NPPF. Unlike the more infrequent changes to the NPPF, much of the most recent practice guidance has been issued without prior consultation or advance notification with new policy requirements increasingly being expressed through guidance updates.


2020 planning reforms

In 2020, a series of far reaching changes to Permitted Development rights and the Use Classes Order were introduced, effectively superseding a number of key NPPF provisions. The relevant statutory instruments were laid before parliament the day before the summer recess and were to come into force the day before parliament reconvened. On 27 August 2020, campaign group Rights: Community: Action applied for a judicial review of the statutory instruments on the basis that the changes introduced were unlawful citing a lack of scrutiny, consultation or impact assessments as well as a failure of the government to take account of its own independent experts. The judicial review was ultimately unsuccessful.


References


External links

* {{official, http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/nppf United Kingdom planning policy Town and country planning in England