National Planning Policy Overhaul Announced

A major overhaul of planning guidance issued by Central Government will be issued for consultation shortly, according to a Communities and Local Government (CLG) press release today, 25th March.

The press release, aimed at publicising the Government's response to MP Matthew Taylor's recent assessment of how land use planning can meet the needs for affordable housing and viable businesses in rural areas, focuses on the problems associated with high rural house prices. Hidden away in the 'Notes to Editors' CLG announces an immediate intention to draw together several existing policy guidance documents into a single planning policy statement (PPS), entitled 'Planning For Prosperity':

"In its final form, this PPS will replace Planning Policy Guidance Note 4: Industrial, commercial development and small firms (PPG4, 1992), Planning Policy Guidance Note 5: Simplified Planning Zones (PPG5, 1992), Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for town centres (PPS6, 2005), Planning Policy Statement 7: Sustainable development in rural areas (PPS7) (as far as it relates to economic development) and paragraphs 53, 54 and Annex D of Planning Policy Guidance Note 13: Transport. This will be published for consultation shortly"

MAZE Planning Solutions Partner, Andrew Watt, comments on this significant change to the planning policy regime:

“The Government has for some time expressed a commitment to producing shorter, punchier statements of national planning guidance. There’s a lot of material to squeeze into the proposed Prosperity PPS when you look at the range of topics covered. Inevitably that will mean there’s a need for supporting documents and practice statements. Without them the scope for interpretation of the new PPS will be too great. The Government had proposed practice guidance to accompany emerging revisions to PPS6 (Town Centres) the publication of which was imminent until this latest announcement from CLG. My fear, which I expect will be echoed elsewhere in the industry, is that the Government’s track record of delivering on promises of supporting guidance for PPG’s and PPS’s is patchy at best. The wholesale change now proposed to policy guidance really must mark the point where Government recognises the importance of issuing any proposed accompanying guidance for consultation at the same time as the text of the principal PPS.”