Industry figures welcomed the government’s latest National Planning Policy Framework, the first re-vamp of the planning system in England for six years, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and pointed caveats, following its long-awaited publication last week.

The latest NPPF sets out the rules which local authorities must abide by when considering housing developments on their patch and follows a lengthy consultation kick-started by the prime minister earlier this year which saw more than 29,000 responses submitted from local government officials, developers and members of the public.

In the words of housing secretary James Brokenshire the new rules will focus 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.

So what did the industry make of the 73-page document?