{"id":41168,"date":"2024-10-08T17:03:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T16:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=41168"},"modified":"2024-10-08T17:03:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T16:03:27","slug":"civic-voice-responds-to-englands-national-planning-policy-framework-consultation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=41168","title":{"rendered":"Civic Voice Responds to England\u2019s National Planning Policy Framework Consultation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/civic-voice-logo.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/civic-voice-logo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14736\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n<h3>Civic Voice has responded to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation, highlighting the need for stronger community involvement and housing affordability measures.<\/h3>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Civic Voice writes:<\/p>\n<p>Civic Voice, the national charity for civic societies, has submitted its response to the Government\u2019s consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework, which was published on 30 July 2024. Engaging with civic societies and community groups across\u2026 the country, Civic Voice collected input through surveys, briefings, webinars, and discussions, ensuring that the views of local communities were heard. In total, seven events were held, attended by 202 individuals, with an additional 405 responses through an online survey and 366 detailed email submissions from individuals, civic societies and other community organisations. These contributions helped shape Civic Voice\u2019s comprehensive response to the Government\u2019s proposals.<\/p>\n<p>Key points from Civic Voice\u2019s response include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Housing Affordability: Civic Voice emphasises that simply increasing housing targets will not automatically result in more homes being built or lower house prices. Without targeted reforms, the private sector may continue to prioritise high-end developments, leaving the urgent need for affordable and social housing unmet. Civic Voice calls for stronger public sector involvement, empowering local authorities and housing associations to meet community needs.<\/li>\n<li>Community Involvement: Civic Voice urges the Government to strengthen Statements of Community Involvement, ensuring that local communities have a meaningful role in shaping major planning decisions. Public engagement must be an ongoing process at every stage of development to rebuild trust and ensure local voices are not just heard, but acted upon.<\/li>\n<li>Strategic Planning: Civic Voice supports enhanced strategic planning at sub-regional levels, potentially overseen by combined authorities, to address complex housing and infrastructure issues. Local housing markets should be assessed by regional bodies, with findings used to guide public investment programmes.<\/li>\n<li>Net Zero and VAT Reform: Civic Voice highlights the urgent need for planning policy to support the Government\u2019s net zero ambitions. Building new homes must go hand in hand with sustainability goals, ensuring developments are energy-efficient and contribute to carbon reduction targets. To this end, Civic Voice calls for reform to the VAT system to incentivise retrofitting and refurbishment of existing homes. Lowering VAT on these projects would encourage greener building practices, support the transition to net zero, and reduce carbon emissions, helping to make homes more energy efficient.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ian Harvey, Executive Director of Civic Voice: \u2018The current housing crisis isn\u2019t just about numbers\u2014it\u2019s about ensuring that the homes being built are genuinely affordable and meet the needs of the people who need them. If we allow the large housebuilders to continue to dominate, the problem will be prolonged, leaving the urgent need for affordable and social housing unmet. We cannot solve the affordable housing crisis without stronger public sector leadership and viewing communities as partners in these national challenges. Communities should be at the centre of decision-making, not sidelined. Using local knowledge and input can speed up decision-making. The future of planning must put local voices first, through local plans ensuring the developments we build meet local needs and contribute to our net zero ambitions.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong>Next Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Civic Voice looks forward to continued dialogue with Ministers and officials on the NPPF consultation, as well as on future planning reform proposals. We remain committed to ensuring that local communities have a real say in shaping the future of their areas and will continue to advocate for greater housing affordability and strategic planning measures., including latest announcements on brownfield passports, and retrofitting.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.civicvoice.org.uk\/news\/press-release-civic-voice-responds-to-national-planning-policy-framework-consultation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read more&#8230;.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Civic Voice has responded to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation, highlighting the need for stronger community involvement and housing affordability measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[17,18,30,23,9,29,31,16,22],"class_list":["post-41168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog","tag-climate-change","tag-conservation","tag-environment","tag-expertise","tag-government","tag-heritage","tag-nature","tag-planning","tag-skills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41169,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41168\/revisions\/41169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}