National Planning Policy Framework consultation

On 30 July, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) launched a consultation on reforms to the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF). The reforms would reverse previous controversial changes to the NPPF and strengthen other areas to deliver the homes this country needs.

These reforms are part of wider changes the government is making to achieve its target of building 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament.

The government has now published its response to this consultation. You can find our full briefing on this response at the bottom of this page.

Our consultation response

Our response to this consultation has been shaped by our members, who can read the full response using the link below. 

If you have any further questions about the consultation, please do send us an email. The full document can be found on the government website.

We will update this page once we have received a response from the government on our submission. 

Please login below to access our full consultation response and our policy briefing. 

The government's response

The government has now published its response to this consultation.

Key points from the response include:

• Confirmation of the approach to housing targets set out in the consultation: the total number of homes under the standard method will add up to 370,000. A percentage of existing stock levels will be used as the baseline for the uplift in the standard method, with an affordability adjustment.
• To align itself with the Office of National Statistics’ approach, the government has changed the affordability multiplier from 4:1 to 5:1. This means some local authorities in lower value areas won’t be subject to an affordability uplift, whereas those in higher value areas will be subject to a larger uplift in housing numbers. London’s number, for example, increases from 80,500 to 87,000.
• Following the consultation, the 50% affordable housing target will no longer be part of the golden rules. The percentage will now be set in the local plan. That amount will be subject to a premium of 15 percentage points with a 50% cap. This will allow places with lower viability to set a lower target; however, most authorities will still deliver 50%.
• Currently, the government will not be proceeding with setting benchmark land values for use in viability assessments.

Members can log in and download our full briefing on this response below.