Grey Belts & Golden Rules: What new planning reforms could mean for the property sector
Robert Garden and Grace Owen-Ellis of law firm and LPF Member CMS UK, have explored the shifts within the planning sector. In their analysis, they discuss the implications of new 'golden rules' and the 'grey belt,' as well as the return of housebuilding targets and the removal of 'beauty' from planning considerations. Their expertise sheds light on how the latest consultation on a revised NPPF signals the 'dramatic changes as promised' for the industry.
From 'golden rules' and the new 'grey belt' to the return of housebuilding targets and the removal of 'beauty', Robert Garden & Grace Owen-Ellis of CMS UK explore how the latest consultation on a revised NPPF heralds 'dramatic changes as promised' for the planning sector.
The Government has launched an eight-week consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which is scheduled to run until 11.45pm on 24 September 2024, writes Robert Garden, a Partner in the planning team at law firm CMS UK.
The draft largely follows through on Labour’s pre-election promises to take “decisive and early” action on planning reform. We outline below the key proposed revisions to the NPPF that emphasise the strong growth-focussed approach this Government intends to take with the planning system.
Changes to the NPPF will still take a number of months to come into effect due to the consultation requirements, and therefore, any changes will have no immediate effect.
Introduction of “Grey belt” land & introduction of “golden rules”
Labour’s promise to build on “poor quality” land in the green belt has the potential to bring thousands of neglected sites around cities into consideration. The draft NPPF seeks to do this by reclassifying parts of the Green belt as “Grey belt” land.
“Grey belt” is defined in Annex 2 to the draft NPPF for the purposes of plan-making and decision-making as:
“land in the green belt comprising Previously Developed Land and any other parcels and/or areas of Green Belt land that make a limited contribution to the five Green Belt purposes (as defined in para 140 of this Framework), but excluding those areas or assets of particular importance listed in footnote 7 of this Framework (other than land designated as Green Belt).”
The consultation version of the NPPF introduces a new paragraph 152 which sets out at paragraph (a) that housing, commercial and other development will not be considered inappropriate in the green belt where:
the development would utilise grey belt in sustainable locations;
the contributions set out in a new paragraph 155 below are provided; and
the development would not fundamentally undermine the function of the Green Belt across the area of the plan as a whole.
A newly inserted paragraph 155 to the NPPF sets out the Government’s much touted “golden rules”. These provide that:
where a scheme involves the provision of housing, at least 50% of that housing must be affordable with an appropriate proportion being Social Rent (subject to viability);
contributions should be made towards necessary improvements to local or national infrastructure; and
contributions should be made towards the provisions of new, or improvements to existing, green spaces that are accessible to the public. Where residential development is involved, the objective should be for new residents to be able to access good quality green spaces within a short walk of their home, whether through onsite provision or through access to offsite spaces.
These “golden rules” will apply to grey belt land, major development on land which has been released from the green belt through plan preparation or review, or on sites in the green belt permitted through development management.
It is hoped that the reclassification of parts of the Green belt and “Grey belt” land will assist the Government in freeing up land for development, notably residential development – to meet its target of delivering 1.5million homes in 5 years.
Re-instatement of mandatory housing targets
The draft NPPF radically changes Chapter 5 (Delivering a sufficient supply of homes), undoing many of the changes of the previous Conservative Government in the December 2023 version of the NPPF. Most notably, the draft NPPF includes a revised paragraph 76 which restores mandatory housing targets. This also requires local planning authorities to include a buffer of 5%, or 20% where there has been significant under delivery of housing over the previous three years.
The Government has also published a document showing the outcome of the proposed revised method both regionally and at local authority level.
Strengthening Strategic Planning
The draft NPPF includes provisions to encourage cross-boundary strategic planning by encouraging collaboration. The NPPF includes at paragraph 24 a direct requirement for “effective strategic planning” across local planning authorities boundaries. Once matters requiring “collaboration” have been identified, a new paragraph 27 sets out certain requirements for policy-making authorities to ensure their plan policies are consistent unless there is a clear justification to the contrary. Paragraph 27 encourages strategic policy-making on matters such as delivery of major infrastructure, unmet development needs from neighbouring areas and any allocation or designation which cuts across the boundary of plan areas.
Stronger cross-boundary strategic planning is a welcome introduction to the draft NPPF notably on the requirement to ensure a consistent approach to the delivery of major infrastructure projects, which are often cross-boundary.
Onshore wind & renewable and low carbon energy
The draft NPPF confirms the changes to the NPPF identified in the Government’s “Policy statement on onshore wind” published on 8 July 2024. As trailed, Footnotes 57 and 58 have been removed. At paragraph 164, the draft NPPF requires local planning authorities to support planning applications of all forms of renewable and low carbon development.
In addition, the revised paragraph 164 requires “significant weight” to be given to a proposal’s contribution to renewable energy generation and a net zero future.
It should be noted that the Government’s consultation launched yesterday also seeks comments on re-integrating large onshore wind projects into the nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) process. It also seeks views on setting the thresholds for onshore wind and solar projects being determined as NSIPS to: (a) 100MW (was 50MW when onshore was treated as an NSIP) for onshore wind projects; and (b) 150MW (currently 50MW) for solar projects.
This would mean that projects falling below these revised thresholds could be determined as planning applications, rather than a development consent order being required. The rationale for doing so is to keep up-to-date with changing technology so that projects “follow a proportionate process to secure consent”.
Supporting modern economies
The revised NPPF also revises policies in Chapter 6 (Building a strong, competitive economy) notably by amending what is the draft paragraph 84b) to require that planning policies identify sites for commercial development which meets the needs of a modern economy, including for uses such as laboratories, gigafactories, data centres, digital infrastructure, freight and logistics. This is also supported by changes to what is now paragraph 85 in the draft NPPF encouraging planning policies and decisions to make provision for new, expanded and upgraded facilities to support knowledge and data-driven, creative or high technology industries (including data centres and grid connections) and the provisions of storage and distribution operations that support the supply chain, transport innovation and decarbonisation.
It should be noted that the Government’s consultation launched yesterday also seeks comments on directing data centres, gigafactories, laboratories into the NSIP consenting process.
Bye-Bye Beautiful
A number of amendments have been made to delete references to beauty and beautiful buildings, reversing a suite of controversial amendments that introduced an element of subjectivity into the NPPF.
Initial View
The draft NPPF and consultation launched by the Government is wide ranging and shows the Government’s commitment to encourage growth through shaking up the planning regime. Sectors from housing to major infrastructure and energy projects to modern economies would be affected by these changes.
The draft NPPF marks a clear departure from the version published by the previous Conservative Government in December 2023. The introduction of “Grey belt” should make it easier to “unlock” land for development and the Government’s approach to onshore wind shows that this Government is serious about energy delivery.
The consultation is scheduled to close at 11.45pm on Tuesday 24 September, after which the Government will need to review the responses. It is likely to be a few months, therefore, before a revised NPPF is published but it is reasonable to assume that this will be published before the end of the year.
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