The new NPPF: the time for waiting is over

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There is much to like in the updated planning guidance but ministers should demand that new housing targets are delivered sooner rather than later, writes Paul Smith

Updates to national planning policy are rapidly joining mulled wine and carol singing as a Christmas tradition. This year’s update of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – the first from the new Labour government – is explicitly aimed at getting more new homes built to meet the manifesto commitment to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the life of this parliament.

Paul Smith CROP

Paul Smith, managing director, Strategic Land Group

Housing targets are making most of the headlines, and understandably so. A new standard method uses the existing number of homes as a starting point, replacing contentious projections of the future number of households. Combined with a further increase to reflect local ratios of house prices to incomes, this new formula requires the delivery of more than 370,000 new homes in England – a 20% increase on the former target.

There is a shift in the distribution of these homes too, with some of the biggest increases being found in rural areas, and the smallest in urban ones – a result of the arbitrary “urban uplift” for our biggest towns and cities being scrapped.

Local authorities will now be required to meet their housing need in local plans, rather than simply “as much of the identified housing need as possible” – those weasel words inserted last Christmas to appease backbench Conservative MPs have been deleted.

The other main headline is the introduction of “grey belt,” a new classification aimed at identifying the poorest quality parts of the green belt. Rather than the “under-used wastelands” described in pre-election speeches, this is a very technocratic definition which refers to the performance of sites against the existing purposes of the green belt, rather than their physical characteristics.

The new wording still refers to “all sources” of flood risk – so expect to sequentially test any site that gets puddles when it rains

Associated policy changes make clear that grey belt land should be the first port of call when areas of undeveloped green belt are to be allocated for new homes in local plans. It will even be possible to secure permission on grey belt sites ahead of the local plan where authorities cannot demonstrate a five-year housing supply.

Such developments must, however, meet the “golden rules” – infrastructure improvements, the provision of new or improved green space and 15% more affordable housing than would otherwise be required (a change on the blanket 50% requirement originally consulted on).

There is much more besides: deletion of some of the more egregious political wording added in 2023, a clarification of flood risk policy (although the new wording still refers to “all sources” of flood risk – so expect to sequentially test any site that gets puddles when it rains), and policies preparing the ground for a new strategic planning process.

There is no doubt that these changes will make a positive difference and will boost housing supply. But there is a lump of coal hidden at the bottom of the stocking – the transitional arrangements for when the new housing targets apply.

If a council can submit a plan for examination before mid-March, or just get a version that meets at least 80% of the new targets to final draft stage, they will have a full five years from the date of adoption before the new targets come into effect

While all councils will eventually have to plan for these new targets, in many cases they will not have to do so straightaway. The rules are complex, but for example, if a council can submit a plan for examination before mid-March, or just get a version that meets at least 80% of the new targets to final draft stage, they will have a full five years from the date of adoption before the new targets come into effect.

Where already-adopted local plans have a housing target that is less than 80% of the new figures, the only consequence is that, in 18 months’ time, the council will need to apply a bigger buffer when it calculates its five-year housing land supply.

The new housing targets will only take immediate effect in councils whose existing plan is more than five years’ old and has not been subject to a review.

There is a difficult balance to be found between giving local authorities time to put new plans in place to reflect the new targets and getting on and building the homes we need on sites that are suitable for development but which sit outside plans.

Those councils who have done what was asked of them and had plans adopted under last year’s policies would be understandably frustrated if the transition were too fast.

We should not be striving for perfection when our housing supply crisis is so urgent

Yet there is always a reason to delay new policies coming into effect. The devolution white paper published on Monday provides another one: wait for local government reorganisation, or for your proportion of the housing target for the proposed new strategic authority areas. There will no doubt be more calls for delay when the local plan system is changed next year and following the arrival of national development management policies.

The time for waiting needs to be over. We should not be striving for perfection when our housing supply crisis is so urgent.

More than 850,000 families are living in over-crowded homes, measured against the not-very-generous standard of two or more people of different sexes aged over 10 – and who are not in a relationship – having to share a room. More than 300,000 children share a bed with another family member. Almost 10,000 children will be homeless this Christmas, a consequence of our undersupply of homes.

It’s hard to believe that many of those families would be worried about new homes being built a year or two ahead of a new local plan coming into force.

It is refreshing to see the government committed to trying to address the housing supply crisis – and there is much to praise in these planning reforms, with more improvements set to follow. But Christmas is a time for overindulgence, so let’s be greedy: The best present the government could give to all those families who do not have a safe, affordable home of their own is to demand their ambitious new housing targets are delivered sooner.

Paul Smith is managing director at The Strategic Land Group