The Practitioners Advisory Group (PAG) has published a suggested draft of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the coalition’s proposed unified planning document, while environment groups have criticized it for not being sufficiently green!
A group of four experts from planning, local government, house-building and the environmental lobby make up the PAG. They were invited by the Minister for Decentralisation, Rt. Hon Greg Clark MP, to provide a practitioners’ perspective on how national planning policy could be simplified.
This document is not a statement of government policy, but it represents a major contribution to the debate as the Coalition Government prepares its own draft of the NPPF, which is due to be published for full public consultation in July 2011.
Provision for a consolidated national planning policy framework was outlined in the Coalition Programme for Government.
Key Extracts
‘The planning system must play an active role in guiding development to sustainable solutions, mitigating significant impacts and promoting positive strategies for environmental enhancement.’ (Page 3)
‘Enabling the delivery of the homes, infrastructure and work places that the country needs in a sustainable way, is the principal function of the planning system. A positive planning system is essential because, without growth, a sustainable future cannot be achieved. This means that the Government expects the planning system to pro-actively encourage growth to meet the needs of business; to increase the supply of housing that the country needs; and to ensure the timely provision of necessary infrastructure. Planning must operate to encourage growth and not act as an impediment. This must start from a positive assumption about development, to create certainty and confidence for national and local investment.’ (Page 4)
Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) President Richard Summers said: ‘The RTPI has long campaigned for a national planning framework for England but the NPPF must be spatial to be effective. National planning must show the geography of planned activities, development and infrastructure and how the Government’s policies and land use designations apply to different parts of the country.’
‘The RTPI is seriously concerned about the way in which the presumption in favour of sustainable development is expressed in their draft NPPF. It is a denial of the concept of sustainable development to give over-riding emphasis to the approval of development proposals without ensuring that that they are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable’.
Download the document here: LINK
Planning Blog: LINK
RTPI Article: LINK
Building Co UK Article: LINK
