The Government has unveiled a series of major planning reforms aimed at accelerating housing delivery, modernising planning committees, and streamlining environmental regulations. Below is a breakdown of the key changes, their potential impacts, and what it could mean for housing delivery.
The New NPPF – December 2024
Labour’s revised National Policy Planning Framework, effective immediately, aims to support the delivery of 1.5 million homes with significant policy shifts, particularly around Green Belt (GB) land. The key changes are as follows:
- Adjustments to the “tilted balance” test, making it slightly harder to refuse schemes where the Local Plan is out of date.
- Strengthened duty for local authorities to cooperate with neighbouring councils.
- Introduction of a new Standard Method to calculate minimum housing need for each authority, increasing targets.
- Greater emphasis on Brownfield land use for housing and loosening the previous guidance on housing density.
- Removal of the focus on “beautiful” design.
- Allowing GB boundary reviews where authorities cannot meet housing demand. Land released from GB (as well as Grey Belt development) for housing must meet the Golden Rules: (i) up to 50% affordable housing subject to transitional policy provisions and viability (ii) improvements to local/ national infrastructure and (iii) new or improvements to public green spaces and for new residents).
Modernising Planning Committees
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill (currently proposed for publication in the spring) proposes significant changes to local planning committee operations aiming to streamline decision-making and improve efficiency. A key proposal is the introduction of a national scheme of delegation, to standardise which applications are decided by committees as opposed to planning officers.
Small, expert-led committees of 3-5 members may be established to handle strategic developments separately from main planning committees. To enhance decision-making quality, mandatory training for planning committee members will also be introduced. These reforms seek to create a more consistent and efficient planning system.
English Devolution White Paper – Power and Partnership: Foundations for Growth
This white paper sets out the Government’s ambitious plans for devolution and local government reform across England.
Central to the proposals is the creation of ‘strategic authorities’, consolidating County and District Councils into unitary authorities and giving Combined Authorities outside London a role akin to the Greater London Authority (GLA). These new bodies will oversee local growth plans and Spatial Development Strategies, allocating housing targets and working with regional agencies like Homes England.
Mayors outside London will gain strategic “call-in” powers akin to those of the Mayor of London. A shift towards “integrated settlements” will allow mayors to set funding priorities tailored to their regions, with opportunities for greater devolution through the Devolution Framework.
In London, the Government will review the Greater London Authority Act 1999, and amend it to ensure it remains fit for purpose, while also exploring new funding mechanisms for the GLA and Transport for London (TfL).
These reforms signal a return to regional planning, with funding and decision-making power concentrated in strategic authorities to enhance the delivery of housing and infrastructure.
Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) Consultation
The Government proposes a series of reforms to streamline the CPO process, with a mix of procedural improvements and more fundamental changes.
Key among these is the long-debated removal of hope value from CPO compensation, which will allow authorities to acquire land at lower prices.
The Government proposes a move away from the case-by-case approach to hope value removal, instead applying it to entire categories of sites that meet specific criteria. While no final list is set, potential targets include brownfield sites suitable for housing without existing planning permission and unallocated sites that have not yet been developed
Rather than only the Secretary of State being empowered to make CPO Directions, Inspectors will instead be able to make Directions directly, and that in the case of unopposed CPOs which are able to be “self-confirmed” by the authority promoting the CPO, that authority is empowered to make hope value directions. Additionally, there is a suggestion that Town and Community Councils should be included within the list of bodies whose CPOs are eligible for hope value directions.
However, balancing public benefit with private land rights will be a key challenge as these reforms take shape.
Right to Buy (RTB) Reform
The Government’s Right to Buy consultation confirms that RTB will remain limited to local authority-owned housing, with no plans to extend it to Registered Providers (RPs) beyond the existing Right to Acquire. A key focus is ensuring that local authorities can confidently invest in affordable housing without the risk of homes quickly transferring to private ownership.
Proposed reforms could lead to increased local authority housebuilding and acquisitions, particularly considering proposed S106 pooling changes, and new rules allowing councils to retain all RTB receipts. However, this flexibility may come with a requirement for like-for-like replacement, ensuring that homes sold through RTB are replaced with similar properties in terms of size, tenure, and location.
These measures aim to strike a balance between maintaining social housing stock and supporting homeownership.
Development and Nature Recovery
The Government wants to streamline environmental regulations that currently hinder development. The loosening or removal of issues such as nutrient neutrality, water neutrality, and protected species mitigation can unblock stalled housing and infrastructure proposals. The key proposal is to pool individual developer contributions to fund large-scale environmental mitigation rather than relying on project-specific assessments. This is likely to be outlined in the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Inspired by models like District Level Licensing for Great Crested Newts and Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANGs), this system would introduce a “Delivery Plan”. This would be a comprehensive framework identifying environmental challenges, the impacted sites, necessary actions, and costs.
Under this approach, the state would take responsibility for implementing strategic mitigation, while developers would pay into a fund rather than conducting EIA for each proposed development, except for issues not covered by the Delivery Plan.