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National Planning Policy Framework: Proposed reforms and other changes to the planning system

 

 

Meeting: 11/03/2026 - Executive (Item 473)

473 National Planning Policy Framework: Proposed reforms and other changes to the planning system pdf icon PDF 153 KB

Purpose:

To consider the Council’s response to the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other aspects of the planning system.

 

Recommendation:     

That the Executive resolves to:

1.    Note the content of the report and agree that the suggested draft consultation response attached at Annex A is submitted to Government.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Hugo Ashton, Executive Member for Planning, introduced the item, the purpose of which was to consider the Council’s response to the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other aspects of the planning system.

 

In his presentation Councillor Ashton made the following points:

 

  • The report had provided an overview of the consultation, highlighted the most significant proposals and changes and proposed the Council’s response.
  • The scale of the changes had taken many by surprise and was a comprehensive restructure and centralisation of policy formulation
  •  The District Council could have chosen not to respond to the consultation, however as a proactive Council it was felt necessary to try and influence the policies.
  • The report and Annex A had been discussed at the recent Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, and the Committee’s proposed responses and changes had been published on the Council’s website and been very useful in the draft response.
  • The consultation had been intended to conclude on 10 March 2026; however, the Council was able to put the response in on 13 March 2026 to take into account the comments at the Executive meeting.
  • Councillor Ashton went on to summarise the key changes highlighted in the report, and the Council’s position on the proposals in terms of those changes. Councillor Ashton focussed on the following areas: Plan-making; decision making policies; pre-application engagement; the ability to set local standards, such as was the case with the Salt Cross development; the use of settlement boundaries; reduced local control over large scale energy and infrastructure; the use of “permission in principle” on medium scale developments. Full detail was included in Annex A of the report.

 

Councillor Ashton proposed the recommendations in the report, with the additional second recommendation that had not been included in the published report as follows:

 

“Delegate authority to the Head of Planning in consultation with the Executive Member for Planning to finalise the consultation response and make amendments to address comments from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Executive.”

 

Councillor Andrew Prosser, Executive Member for Climate Action and Nature Recovery, suggested that there were some positive aspects to the proposals, however there were concerns about the centralisation of policies. Councillor Prosser queried if Government had addressed the housing numbers and targets in the proposed new framework. Councillor Ashton clarified that the housing targets had been made clear to be a minimum with no prospect of these being reduced.

 

Councillor Duncan Enright, Deputy Leader of the Council, welcomed that in the proposals certain elements of the planning system were being proposed to be standardised, particularly for smaller builders who worked across districts. Councillor Enright noted that in a rural district the “place” was important to ensure that that context was recognised in developments. Finally, Councillor Enright suggested that it was still difficult for young people in the district to get housing close to their networks and so the Local Plan produced by the Council should be well thought through and supported by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 473

Meeting: 04/03/2026 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 106)

106 National Planning Policy Framework: Proposed reforms and other changes to the planning system pdf icon PDF 153 KB

Purpose          

To consider the Council’s response to the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other aspects of the planning system.

 

Recommendation

That the Executive resolves to:

1.            Note the content of the report and agree that the suggested draft consultation response attached at Annex A is submitted to Government.

 

Annex A- to follow

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The purpose of this item was to consider the Council’s response to the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other aspects of the planning system. It was included on the agenda for pre-decision scrutiny.

 

The Chair explained that the annex to the report (the Council’s proposed response to the consultation) had been circulated as a later paper. Given the lack of time for members to read through the annex, it was suggested that any comments on it be forwarded to Democratic Services by Friday, for consideration ahead of the following Wednesday’s Executive meeting.

 

The Executive Member for Planning apologised for the lateness of the annex and explained that it was important that the Council adds its voice to the national consultation.

 

The Head of Planning added that there was a lot of material in the consultation which had taken considerable time to digest but the most salient and impactful points were covered in the report. The proposed changes to the NPPF were quite radical but a lot of it was sensible and supportable. The status of the NPPF as a material consideration would remain unchanged but it would include a series of national policies. There were concerns including around:

·         The impacts of new national policies on the ability of councils to set local standards.

·         Less effective pre-application engagement.

·         Reductions in supporting information provided with applications.

·         An overly permissive approach to development, in particular within settlement boundaries.

·         The upward push on housing numbers.

·         The emphasis on building around railway stations at high density including in sensitive areas (other than in the green belt).

·         A permissive approach to medium sized developments of 10-49 dwellings.

·         Responsibility for major housing allocations (e.g. new settlements) sitting at a sub-regional level rather than at local plan level.

 

The Committee made a series of comments and suggestions which are set out in an annex to these minutes, together with the responses of the Head of Planning.

 

The Committee agreed that it’s comments and suggestions, plus any additional comments received by Friday, would be submitted to the Executive on Wednesday 11 March 2026.

 

The Chair thanked the Executive Member and officers for their work on the Council’s response and said that the responses demonstrated a very strong understanding of the area and the issues it faces. It was suggested that a covering letter should be published alongside the consultation response to demonstrate the work the Council was doing to represent the interests of the district.

 

 

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