Planning policy reviews
On this page we retain details of National Planning Policy Framework and planning process reviews issues which the Society has commented on over recent years.
Planning for the Future
We have submitted a detailed response to the Government consultation document. You can read our response here.
It seems that the underlying premise of the While Paper is that an outdated planning system is not fit for purpose and is a primary cause of the failure to build enough homes for a growing population. This is not an entirely fair analysis, as a lack of strategic thinking has also contributed to the housing crisis. The reliance on market forces to entirely solve the shortage of homes has been misguided and has created a dearth of appropriate residences, especially in regard to affordable and social housing.
The Society shares the view that the present planning system is too complex and, therefore, tends to exclude local participation while at the same time allowing developers to build, too often, poor quality designs. Though many of the general objectives of the While Paper are laudable in sentiment, the lack of practical details raise many concerns, especially with regard to the level of local input and in what could result in a very top down system. An overall criticism would be that while identifying problems in the existing planning system the White Paper proposals fall short of coming up with credible solutions in meeting the objectives of a faster, more transparent, simpler, democratic process that will produce affordable high quality build and protect communities’ existing heritage.
We believe that Civic Societies, like that of our own in St Albans, with their local knowledge and pool of expertise can help and support the planning process from the initial development to the planning application stage. Their commitment to creating ‘better places’ make Civic Societies powerful allies both in engaging local communities and insisting on high quality developments.
NPPF Consultation
In September 2024 the Government ran a consultation on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. We submitted a detailed response to the questions which you can see here.
We welcome the opportunity to comment on the proposals for reform and recognise that there is an urgent need both to build more homes and to increase the amount of affordable and social housing. Our main disagreement with the proposals is the insistence on the new “standard method” of calculating housing targets for the highly variable environments of councils throughout the country. St Albans is probably at the extreme of variability as over 81% of the District is Green Belt and it is a commuter town where the majority of residents do not work there. The city itself has about 25% Conservation Area.
Changes to Planning Rules
Just before Christmas 2023 the Government issued a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). What does this mean for St Albans? Michael Gove, in his Ministerial Statement, emphasised the importance of up to date Local Plans. As we know, St Albans’ Local Plan is the oldest in the country and St Albans was one of the Districts “named and shamed” by Michael Gove because of this. St Albans is in the process of developing a new Local Plan and the increased focus means that it is vitally important to complete this. League tables are also promised to monitor success in delivery against plans.
Does the revised NPPF provide requirements or opportunities to amend the draft plan to reduce the number of new houses required? There are two important changes that may do. Firstly the new guidance makes clear that the “standard method” for assessing local authority need is an advisory starting point and in exceptional circumstances a smaller number may be used. Secondly there is no longer a requirement for local authorities to review or alter Green Belt boundaries if this would be the only way to meet housing need.
The implementation arrangements say that these new policies will apply for the purpose of examining plans, where those plans reach Regulation 19 stage after 19 March 2024. St Albans draft plan has gone through a Regulation 18 consultation and the Regulation 19 consultation is taking place. So it would seem that these new policies will definitely apply for the purpose of examining the St Albans District Plan.
80% of St Albans District is Green Belt which means that in practice, if the numbers produced by the Standard Method are to be planned for, then incursion upon the Green Belt is inevitable, as in the current Draft Plan. So is the extent of the Green Belt an exceptional circumstance that allows St Albans to reduce the number of new housing required? On its face it should be but in practice life is never simple. And is it going to be possible to retain all our Green Belt – where does that leave the generations struggling to find secure and affordable housing?