On 24 July, the government published the long-awaited revision of the National Planning Policy Framework - known as the NPPF - which sets out the basis on which all planning decisions in England should be made. An update of the previous version, which was published in 2012, the new NPPF has solving the housing crisis at its core.
While some old favourite policies remain - like the need for a five-year housing land supply - they have been supplemented by new ones. These include a Housing Delivery Test - which looks at how many homes have actually been built - and a requirement for more frequent reviews of Local Plans to make sure they keep pace with changing circumstances. A new "standard method" for calculating how many homes should be planned for also looks like being an important change by providing an absolute minimum number of homes that councils should be planning to deliver.
Our managing director, Paul Smith, has set out his detailed views on the revised text in an article for Building magazine. You can read it here.
You can find out what other people think about the new NPPF in this piece from Property Week, which also includes comments from Paul Smith. You can read it here.
More coverage from Building magazine, which also includes comments from Paul Smith, can be found here.
The Strategic Land Group is a land promoter with an established track record of delivering homes and maximising land values on all types of site - including in the Green Belt. You can learn more about how land promotion works here. If you know of a site that you think might benefit from our involvement, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a confidential, free, no obligation assessment.
