The planning policy it is a changing: the Government has proudly announced that over a thousand pages of national planning rules have been replaced by fewer than sixty – mostly written in plain English. An initial draft version was substantially amended and the general consensus seems to be that they’ve actually done a pretty good job.

But what difference will it really make to planning applications?

Presumption in favour of sustainable development
Since 1947 there has been a presumption in favour of development in this country – a planning application succeeds unless there are good reasons not to grant it. This remains much the same. It’s now tweaked to be sustainable development: sustainability has economic, social and environmental elements in building strong local economies, strong and vibrant communities and protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment (including improving biodiversity).

As the framework says:

Planning should operate to encourage and not act as an impediment to sustainable growth.

Plan-led development
Traditionally, planning is a two-stage process: someone puts forward a planning application and then people campaign against it. OK, that’s something of a simplification but it often seems that way. The Government wants plan-led development. That means areas developing detailed plans saying what sort of development is wanted in each area and developers who’s proposals are in line with those plans getting a fast-track.

Stockport is one of the leaders across the country with our plan: the Local Development Framework. We’ll be consulting on the last stage of the new plan later this year, but already Stockport is able to give a lot of guidance to anyone wanting to make an application.

Protecting our Town Centres
The new planning system allows us to prevent out-of-town developments if there’s a suitable in-town location. Local authorities like Stockport can say where we’d like certain types of development to be. Perhaps we want supermarkets in the Town Centre, and if not there in a District Centre and only if there’s no suitable location in any of the existing centres would out-of-town development be permitted. The Government wants the planning system to be used to promote competitive and diverse town centres. That includes identifying enough potential development sites to meet the future needs of towns.

Promoting sustainable travel
The Framework encourages developments that reduce the need for travel and, where travel is needed, make it as far as possible on foot, bicycle or public transport. Where possible developments should be located to give priority to pedestrian and cycle movements and give easy access to public transport. However, there is a significant barrier for refusing to grant applications on traffic grounds: the “residual cumulative impacts of the development” must be “severe” to turn it down.

High quality, well designed homes

There is a shortage of housing in the UK, and the Government is keen to encourage local authorities to identify space where houses can be built for at least five years into the future. But it isn’t about packing in houses – the Framework stresses the need for a good mix of homes, well designed and safe. An application can be refused if the development is of “poor design that fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions”. So it may not be enough for an application to do no harm – it can be refused if it fails to improve an area when it could have done.

Green belt
The Framework protects existing Greenbelt land from inappropriate development, other than in exceptional cases.

And that leaves us…
Someone proposing a development in line with what the Local Authority is asking for should find it easy to get approval, especially if the proposed development is well designed, sustainable and promotes cycling, walking and public transport. However, a proposal for an out-of-town supermarket could be refused if there’s a suitable in-town location and poorly designed developments could run into trouble too.

But remember that the purpose of the planning system is to promote sustainable growth, not to keep everything as it is now, and the Government’s Framework rules clearly reflect that.

You can download the National Planning Policy Framework here.

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