The Government has published a revision of its National Planning Policy Framework, citing that the new NPPF will ‘make it easier for councils to challenge poor quality and unattractive development, and give communities a greater voice about how developments should look and feel.’ The new rule-book focuses on ‘promoting high quality design of new homes and places, stronger protection for the environment, building the right number of homes in the right places and greater responsibility and accountability for housing delivery from councils and developers.’
The heritage sector responded to the NPPF consultation, and several points raised have been reflected in the final version. For instance, greater clarity is given to ensure that practices that protect heritage assets must be adhered to and are not simply recommended. Additionally, under section 16, paragraph 187 stipulates that local planning authorities maintain or have access to a historic environment record, a key factor in the safe-guarding of heritage. However, while some positive changes have been noted, there is a general overarching push for development in the new NPPF.
Given this, there has been a mixed response across our members. Matt Thomson, Head of Planning at the Campaign to Protect Rural England said, ‘it is a speculative developers’ charter and will lead to the death of the plan-led system’, while CIfA (Charted Institute for Archaeologists) states that ‘there should be no major impact on the way the historic environment is managed, or any lessening of the weight afford to heritage assets as a result of the revisions.’
The revised National Planning Policy Framework is available here.
The Government has also updated its Planning Practice Guidance, its Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessments Guidance, and its Viability Guidance, to bring these in line with the new Framework.