Revamped National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) — key changes for housing sector and local authorities explained

In a bold move to tackle the UK's housing crisis, the Government has revamped the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to pave the way for the delivery of 1.5m new homes over the next five years.

This strategic overhaul aims to streamline the planning process, unlock new development opportunities and ensure that affordable housing is at the forefront of its ambitious agenda.

Here, experienced planning lawyer Elaine Field outlines what changes the new NPPF brings and how they’ll affect the housing sector and local authorities.

What is the NPPF?

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a crucial document in England's planning system. It sets out the Government's planning policies and how they should be applied. It also aims to achieve sustainable development by balancing economic, social and environmental objectives. 

The policies within the NPPF cover aspects like housing, economic growth, environmental protection and infrastructure. These provide the framework within which local authorities produce their own ‘local plans’ that are used to determine planning applications.
 

Recent changes to the NPPF

The Government published a revised version of the NPPF on 12 December 2024. This provides an overhaul of some key planning policies, which take immediate effect. 

These key changes include:

1.    Mandatory housing targets & housing need 

A new ‘Standard Method’ used for calculating local housing need is based on existing housing stock numbers, rather than projected household growth based on data from 2014 used in the previous model.

This has significantly increased the annual housing need figures for many authorities and these new figures are required to be used as a mandatory minimum for setting local housing need. Previously, the NPPF only used such figures as an advisory starting point.
 

2.    Grey belt land

A new category of land has been introduced known as ‘grey belt’ land. This relates to lower-quality areas within the green belt that are deemed suitable for development. 

Unlike traditional green belt land — which is protected to prevent urban sprawl and preserve open spaces — grey belt land includes areas that make little or no contribution to these aims. This may include previously developed land or areas of green belt that don’t satisfy all the tests for green belt land. 
 

3.    Green belt development golden rules

Major developments within the green belt (including grey belt land) that involve housing must now comply with the following ‘golden rules’.

• Essential infrastructure: any development on grey belt land must include necessary local and national infrastructure like nurseries, GP surgeries and transportation links. This ensures that new communities have the necessary services and amenities.
• Affordable Housing: a significant portion of new housing must be affordable, with a particular emphasis on social rent. This helps to address the housing affordability crisis. Local authorities are required to update their policies on affordable housing to reflect the various changes within the NPPF. Until their plan has been updated, for development within the grey belt the requirement will be 15% above the highest affordable housing requirement (subject to a cap of 50%). This means that if a local authority requires the provision of 30% affordable housing, this would be increased to 45% for grey belt schemes. Where there are no pre-existing requirements for affordable housing, any such schemes must provide 50% affordable housing. It should be noted that amendments to the planning policy guidance for viability assessments (which were introduced at the same time as the latest NPPF) mean that viability assessments can’t currently be used to reduce the amount of affordable housing for grey belt schemes. This is set to be reviewed further in Spring 2025.
• Greenspace: developments must provide or enhance existing greenspace areas that are accessible by the public. These areas must be within a short walk of the new homes.

4.    Affordable housing tenure

The NPPF now places more emphasis on social rent housing over other tenures. To support this, reference to a 25% requirement for first homes has been removed to provide more flexibility.

Impact on the housing sector

The latest amendments represent a positive step forward. Notably, the reinforcement of mandatory housing targets underscores the Government’s commitment to delivering 1.5m new homes within its current term.

Although the amendments are a step in the right direction, further clarity and work is needed to unlock developments, such as workforce training and grant funding for the affordable housing.

Other consultations set to change planning system

As well as delivering the latest NPPF changes, the Government has been actively reviewing other factors that may affect the planning system, with a number of papers and consultations being released. 

These include:

1. Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees
   Proposes various changes to streamline the decision-making process, including bypassing committees for policy compliant schemes and requiring mandatory training for committee members.
    
2. Planning Reform Working Paper: Development and Nature Recovery
   Sets out a number of proposals including dealing with schemes affected by nutrient neutrality issues.
    
3. English Devolution White Paper: Power and Partnership 
   Proposals to radically restructure local government in England.
    
4. Compulsory Purchase Process and Compensation Reforms
   This relates to reform of the CPO process and will allow authorities to acquire land without taking into account any ‘hope value’. The consultation closes on 13 February 2025.

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