Government launches consultation on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework

On 30 July, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched a consultation on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The Chancellor committed to this reform in her first speech at the beginning of July in order to boost sustainable growth. It is part of wider changes the government is making to achieve its target of building 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament.

The consultation proposes several changes relevant to housing associations, including:

• Reintroducing mandatory housing targets.
• Applying ‘golden rules’ to any Green Belt or grey belt development. These rules include a 50% affordable housing target.
• No longer introducing the Infrastructure Levy.
• Removing the priority given to First Homes.

We are pleased to see our key asks around the Infrastructure Levy and First Homes reflected in the consultation. 

The consultation will close on 24 September, please get in touch with any feedback by 11 September.  

In order to help you with your responses, we are putting together a briefing on the proposals which will be released next week. We will also host two online roundtables to get your feedback directly, these will be on 28 August (10:30-11:30) and 5 September (14:00-15:00). Please get in touch if you would like to attend a roundtable, places will be limited to one attendee per organisation.

If you have any further questions about the consultation, please do send us an email. The full document can be found on the government website.