The Government published proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on 30 July 2024 and is seeking public input on these changes until 11:45pm on 24 September 2024. The proposal seeks to undo a number of changes made to the NPPF in December 2023 to streamline the planning process and push through an ambitious plan to get Britain building. 

This insight focuses in particular on the reforms for housing delivery and affordable housing.

The proposal

The Government has proposed a mandatory revised standard method for assessing housing needs that align with its housing market aspirations. This new approach aims to:

• deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next five years
• provide more stable and predictable housing numbers
• distribute homes where they are most needed and least affordable, and
• be easy to understand.

Local governments will determine how to meet the housing need figures in accordance with national policy, with the option to justify lower numbers only if hard constraints are demonstrated to the Planning Inspectorate. The standard method will use a baseline percentage of existing housing stock to:

• drive delivery proportionate to the size of settlements
• increase the baseline in areas with high affordability pressures
• remove arbitrary caps and additions to ensure an objective assessment of need.

Defining grey belt

The plan proposes to identify and define "grey belt" land within the Green Belt, targeting areas that make limited contributions to Green Belt purposes while excluding environmentally valuable land or important assets to maintain current environmental protections.

A new definition for grey belt land will be added to the NPPF, with criteria to assess its limited contribution to Green Belt purposes, ensuring consistent and transparent identification.

Development on sustainable grey belt land within the Green Belt will not be considered inappropriate if a local planning authority:

• cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply
• is delivering less than 75% against the Housing Delivery Test, or
• has unmet commercial or other needs.

However, the release of grey belt sites for development will be subject to meeting the Government’s "golden rules" for major development, which require that:

• 50% of homes built are affordable, with an appropriate portion of Social Rent
• the plans enhance the local environment
• necessary infrastructure is in place
• development would not fundamentally undermine the function of the Green Belt across the area of the plan as a whole, ensuring that delivering homes is in the public interest.

Social Rent

The plan includes ensuring that housing needs assessments explicitly account for the needs of those requiring Social Rent, and that authorities outline their expectations for Social Rent delivery.

It is anticipated that most areas will prioritise Social Rent in their affordable housing portfolio to meet local needs and deliver more genuinely affordable housing. However, local leaders will ultimately determine the balance to meet their communities' needs, allowing for increased delivery of Social Rent while maintaining control over place-making and tenure balancing as necessary.

Remove Minimum Requirement of Affordable Homes and First Homes

A further proposal is to remove the requirements to deliver at least 10% of homes as affordable home ownership and 25% of affordable housing units secured as First Homes. This is because prioritising First Homes can force unhelpful trade-offs, especially in areas where Social Rent and Affordable Rent are most needed.

First Homes would still remain an option for delivering affordable housing where local planning authorities believe this is appropriate for local needs. The NPPF Glossary definition of affordable housing would be updated to include this, and Starter Homes should be removed from the same definition as First Homes were a replacement for this scheme.

Broaden the Definition of Brownfield

Development must adopt a brownfield-first approach, prioritizing Previously Developed Land (PDL) whenever feasible. The default stance will be that any brownfield development is acceptable in principle. The existing definition of brownfield land will be amended, setting an expectation that applications on brownfield land will be approved and that plans should promote increased density in urban areas.

In particular, local governments can consider Brownfield land in the Green Belt and grey belt if they cannot meet their housing targets, prioritizing land near stations and existing communities.

Improve Developer Contributions

A further proposal is to focus on improving the system of developer contributions to deliver the affordable housing local communities need and wider infrastructure that will mitigate the impacts of new development. This means that the focus will remain on securing Affordable Housing through Section 106. Therefore, the Government will not implement the Infrastructure Levy as introduced in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 and aims to set clear planning policy requirements on Green Belt land.

In summary

• The proposed approach is to introduce mandatory housing targets into the NPPF to aim to build set a higher expectation of 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
• There is a strong focus of prioritising Social Rent and a step back from mandatory affordable home ownership requirements.
• The consultation is seeking views on the proposed revisions to the NPPF.
• The Government will then respond to this consultation and publish NPPF revisions before the end of the year to ensure policy changes can take effect as soon as possible.

Capsticks’ view and how we can help

We encourage you to make any desired responses on the proposed reforms to the NPPF before the consultation closes at 11:45pm on 24 September 2024. Guidance on how to make comments can be found through this link here and enquiries about the consultation contact can be made to the following contact: [email protected]

Capsticks aims to be the firm of choice to RPs, offering a full service across corporate and securitisation, development and planning law, housing leasehold and asset management. We can provide advice and assistance on changes discussed above and any updates that come in the future on this topic.

If you have any queries around what is discussed in this article, and the impact on your organisation, please speak to the Planning Team to find out more about how Capsticks can help.