MPs demand NPPF rethink

DCLG Select Committee resists localism in planning, demands Government clarity on sustainable development
 

 

The Communities and Local Government select committee has this week published their review of the Government’s new draft National Planning Policy Framework.  The committee’s MPs called on the Government to make significant changes to the policy, particularly to restate previous restrictions on building on greenfield and out-of-town land, and to reopen the draft policy to consultation.
 

 

The new NPPF streamlined 1000 pages of planning rules into just 52 pages.  Built into the framework is a presumption in favour of sustainable development and a shift in the burden of proof in the planning system so that the default answer is “yes” unless there are demonstrable and significant problems with a development.  The Government envisioned this planning policy as a driver of economic growth and key to tackling the country’s housing crisis.  The draft NPPF underwent a 12 week public consultation.
 

 

The DCLG committee admitted that “most witnesses to our inquiry were broadly content with the concept and approach of the NPPF in simplifying planning guidance and did not want a wholesale rewrite."  
 

 

Nevertheless, MPs expressed concerns that the loss of detail from the previous policy and guidance led to a document that is either vague or overly lawyerly (depending on how it is interpreted), with inadequate definition of what constitutes ‘sustainable development’.  The MPs were concerned about the loss of central control over planning policy, particularly evident in their treatment of on building on green belt and open land as opposed to on previously-developed land and in town centres.
 

 

The Government, however, in line with their decentralisation agenda, suggested that local authorities should be able to interpret sustainable development for the circumstances of their particular areas.  The Government’s response to the committee suggests that they will add clarity as to the importance of the Local Plans in the new system.
 

 

It is concerning that only a third of councils ever got round to producing a Local Plan – and the committee is correct to think that with the streamlined NPPF, all local authorities will be looking to beef up their plans to compensate for where they were relying on the national policy to fill in the gaps.
 

 

But the criticisms from this influential select committee will be welcomed by those who worry that the decentralisation of planning and development control will leave local authorities unable to resist (or keen to accept) development on green belt land – which is a sacred cow for certain pressure groups and communities.
 

 

Planning minister Greg Clark said in response to the committee’s report:
 

 

"I warmly welcome the DCLG select committee's constructive recommendations to the draft Framework consultation. I invited the Committee to make specific suggestions to the draft framework and am grateful for the practical and measured way they have approached the exercise.
 

 

"The Government will consider carefully each of the suggestions that have been made, along with all responses to the consultation.
 

 

"We are determined that the National Planning Policy Framework will put power into the hands of local people, through a simpler, clearer system, which safeguards our natural and historic environment while allowing the jobs and homes to be created that our country needs."