Comment
What you need to know about the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy
Now that the dust has settled, and to help shake off the New Year blues, Directors, Tim Burden and Tom Armfield sat down to fully consider the contents of the Government’s early Christmas present– the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy. But does it represent a bright new dawn for national planning policy, or the remains of a left-over Christmas turkey?
The consultation on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy opened on 22 December 2022. It closes on 2 March 2023. As the first in a series of articles considering the proposed reforms and the implications for different sectors, in this piece we look at the origins of the reforms, the short and future term changes and what’s next.
The Bill
Much was written late last year about the furore and lobbying by a number of backseat Conservative MPs during the passage of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (the LURB). The Government’s apparent inability to progress the Bill due to dissent within its own ranks culminated in the publication of a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS), issued on 6 December by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove.
This stated that he “will be making further changes to the planning system, alongside the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, to place local communities at the heart of the planning system.”[1]
It concluded with the bold statement that “These reforms will help to deliver enough of the right homes in the right places and will do that by promoting development that is beautiful, that comes with the right infrastructure, that is done democratically with local communities rather than to them, that protects and improves our environment, and that leaves us with better neighbourhoods than before.”[2]
Over a decade since the enactment of the Localism Act 2011, it appears that localism is still very alive within the halls of Westminster.
No longer ‘Planning for the Future’?
With one eye squarely on the May 2023 local elections and a future general election, on 22 December 2022, the Government published a consultation document on its proposed reforms to National Planning Policy (Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy) alongside a full draft version of the proposed new National Planning Policy Framework (‘NPPF’).
Significantly, and somewhat disappointingly for the 44,000 people and organisations that responded to it, and have waited over two years for a meaningful response, this apparently represents the formal conclusion of the 2020 ‘Planning for the Future’ consultation; the outcome of which has been noted in a single sentence:
“The government set out its proposed approach to planning reform, in light of responses to the White Paper, in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill and accompanying Policy Paper”.[3]
For what could have been, see our previous thoughts on this now extinct document at Planning for the Future: Once in a lifetime? and A ‘standard method’ that works for all.
Short term and future changes to the NPPF
Given the far reaching (and sometimes controversial) proposals previously contained within the “Planning for the Future” document, it is difficult to not feel some disappointment with the current consultation.
This consultation seeks views on the proposed approach to updating the NPPF, as well as seeking views on the future approach to new National Development Management Policies.
The accompanying policy document highlights five policy objectives, namely:
- Building beautiful and refusing ugliness
- Securing the infrastructure needed to support development
- More democratic engagement with communities on local plans
- Better environmental outcomes
- Empowering communities to shape their neighbourhoods.
It states that “All this is needed to deliver more homes in the right places, supported by sustainable and integrated infrastructure for our communities and our economy.”[4]
Its focus is therefore squarely on proposing amendments to national housing policy in response to backbenchers concerns, but, as we will discuss in a later article, the housebuilding sector are unlikely to consider that these will deliver the “right homes in the right places” or indeed meet the Government’s purported ambition to deliver 300,000 homes per year. The blatant political ramifications of these actions, and the consequential social, economic, and indeed environmental ramifications are likely to be felt immediately across England at a time when our economy arguably needs housebuilding more than ever.
The consultation proposes imminent changes to the NPPF, which will likely come into effect around April 2023, and which will have implications for decision-taking on planning applications, alongside new transitional arrangements for plan-making. Current and imminent planning applications and appeals, and local plan progression will need to be alive to them, and planning strategies updated accordingly.
It would seem fair to assume that, notwithstanding the consultation exercise being undertaken, the tracked changed document will in all likelihood be the new NPPF document. In the below downloadable PDF we have sought to highlight those changes, provide summary commentary on the implications of the amendments, and identify areas of risk for developers.
What’s next for national planning policy?
We consider that many opportunities have been missed within this revised NPPF document due to the reactive nature of the consultation, and its focus largely on housing. There is a real opportunity to come out of the pandemic planning positively for our employment needs, to regenerate our town centres and to grow our technology and innovative sectors.
Whilst there is perhaps a need to strike more of a balance in terms of providing a ‘carrot and stick’ for progressing Local Plans, given the watering down of the current requirement to seek to meet housing needs in full in Local Plans, and changes to the approach to housing land supply calculations, it is difficult to see how these proposed amendments can be seen as anything other than a dilution of the existing national policy approach to housing.
Significantly, there remains no statutory requirement for a council to prepare and maintain an up-to-date Local Plan. A unilateral review of the strategic policies within existing Local Plans after five years is similarly unlikely to support a plan-led system. The consultation is notably silent on what could replace the duty to co-operate – and the absence of any form of strategic planning will compound the housing shortfall and certainly not get us any closer to delivering the 300,000 homes a year the Government says it still aspires to.
But we are promised that a “fuller review of the Framework will be required in due course, and its content will depend on the implementation of the government’s proposals for wider changes to the planning system, including the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill.”[5]
Given the absence of any real proposals in the current consultation to implement ‘levelling up’, and the many notable omissions within this latest document, perhaps a further new NPPF later this year will prove more insightful? The shift in support for onshore renewable energy generation is however welcomed, this is an industry with significant potential, which can make a substantial contribution to the country’s energy security.
In the longer term there is also reference to greater strategic planning, which to some degree could fill the void which remains following the revocation of regional plans. The devil will however be in the detail when the LURB further advances, including how authorities may be compelled to work together in the interests of joined up thinking.
Local plans and legal challenges
The much reported slow down / cessation of Local Plan production is likely to gather pace as a consequence of these proposals. The important role that the Planning Inspectorate plays in terms of providing checks and balances to the planning system is similarly being challenged by politicians.
The 2012 version of the NPPF was subject to much subsequent litigation and interpretation. Later versions effectively refined the NPPF to reflect established case law. Arguably the language used in this latest draft will similarly result in further legal challenge over the coming months and years, and represents less of an evolution to national planning policy and more of a concession to backbenchers.
Over the coming weeks, our series on the proposed reforms to national planning policy will focus in on key aspects of the consultation, considering the implications for various sectors and seeking to suggest some positive approaches for future planning reform. Watch this space for in depth commentary on how the reforms might affect your sector.
For more information, please contact Tim Burden or Tom Armfield.
12 January 2023
[1] Update on the Levelling Up Bill - Statement made on 6 December 2022
[2] Update on the Levelling Up Bill - Statement made on 6 December 2022
[3] Planning for the future
[4] Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy
[5] Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy