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The government has published the revised NPPF. In a press statement published to accompany the document the government said:

Under new planning rules, updated via the National Planning Policy Framework:

• Councils will be told to play their part to meet housing need, with new immediate mandatory housing targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding and deliver growth across the country putting more money in working people’s pockets.
• Areas with the highest unaffordability for housing and greatest potential for growth will see housebuilding targets increase, while stronger action will ensure councils adopt up-to-date local plans or develop new plans that work for their communities.
• A new common-sense approach will be introduced to the greenbelt. While remaining committed to a brownfield first approach, the updated NPPF will require councils to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet targets, identifying and prioritising lower quality ‘grey belt’ land.
• Any development on greenbelt must meet strict requirements, via the new ‘golden rules’, which require developers to provide the necessary infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a premium level of social and affordable housing.
• To further tackle the housing crisis, councils and developers will also need to give greater consideration to social rent when building new homes and local leaders have greater powers to build genuinely affordable homes for those who need them most.

The government has been clear that it supports builders not blockers, as it makes the necessary decisions to deliver for working people across the country.’

The government consulted on the revised NPPF over the summer, receiving 10,000 responses, including from SLCC and many local councils.

The NPPF is the key planning document in England as its sets out the government’s planning policies for the country and how these are expected to be applied.

More information, including a copy of the NPPF, can be found here. SLCC intends to produce a more detailed briefing on the new NPPF and its implications for local councils shortly.