National Planning Policy Framework consultation out – an analysis

In July 2024, The Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary – Angela Rayner – announced a consultation to update the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). It is seeking responses to its proposals by 11.45pm on Tuesday, 24 September 2024.

The newly published NPPF consultation covers a broad range of issues, but the two key aims are to deliver more housing – in particular affordable housing and to speed up planning with the majority of proposed changes with this in mind. I am afraid to say there are not many changes specific to the older persons sector, apart from one mention in mixed tenure developments, however the delineation of housing-with-care remains which is positive. Overall, the proposed changes should benefit housing delivery in the round and therefore the older persons sector should benefit.

The first change is a U-turn on the Conservative’s scrapping of mandatory housing targets setting a high expectation of what Councils should be delivering - 1.5 million new homes in total. The most unaffordable areas will be identified, and delivery targets will be higher in these locations. It is welcome news that delivery of houses will be prioritised in the areas that need them most and further to this the number of Social Rent homes will need to be explicitly considered in a move to boost supply for those most in need. To assist funding flexibility will be given to Right to Buy receipts to deliver more social homes, which is again positive.

The statement did not go as far as stating that brownfield planning applications will simply require rubber stamping, but it does state that proposals of this nature are acceptable in principle. This should mean more houses are delivered in sustainable locations, however there will be a reliance on the delivery of additional infrastructure to be able to deliver healthy and workable communities. This is covered in the consultation under ‘delivering community needs’ to support the delivery of public services which should mean the development of additional capacity for GPs and other local services vital for our older population.

A need to review green belt and a priority for ‘grey’ belt land is included, but green belt will be held to higher standards with 50% affordable provision required. This is directing development into more sustainable locations in terms of accessibility, but also in terms of protection for biodiversity going hand in hand with a brownfield land priority. Grey belt is defined as previously developed land or land that makes a limited contribution to the Green Belt and should increase land availability for development.

Mixed tenure sites are promoted with housing designed for older people specifically mentioned as a component (paragraph 6). This is welcome and will help to promote sustainable, diverse areas to everyone’s benefit, but it does feel slightly like the sector has been put into a catch-all paragraph.

There is an intention to reintroduce regional planning to have a more joined up delivery and infrastructure plan. Coupled with this all authorities will need to have an up-to-date Local Plan in place – just a third of Council’s currently do. When these are issued for consultation, it is vital that older persons’ housing is strongly represented to ensure that a proportion of the housing target locally is specifically for older persons’ housing and I would urge people to engage accordingly.

In terms of speeding up planning there is a proposed fee increase to pay for resource, but no mention of this being ringfenced so the jury is out on whether planning departments will actually see this increase. A national scheme for delegation of planning decisions is proposed and could be beneficial to preventing planning delays and spurious committee decisions, but the devil will be in the detail of the scheme.

There is also going to be stronger operation of ‘the presumption’ in favour of sustainable development and the references to ‘beauty’ have been removed which are slightly ambiguous. Both of these should assist in obtaining more planning permissions, but care should be taken to ensure high quality development is delivered.

Overall affordable housing is front and centre of the proposals which is positive for the sector, but more importantly for those who need a home. The revised NPPF is light on older persons housing delivery specifically, but the commitment is there to boost housing supply overall and with the ageing population you would expect provision to be made accordingly.

It is important as many people as possible respond to the consultation and please do make mention of specific requirements for older people’s housing delivery as this may make a difference. As mentioned the consultation closing at 11.45pm on Tuesday 24 September 2024 and we should have a new NPPF by the end of the year which overall seems positive for housing delivery.

For full details see here.

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WWA Studios are proud to sponsor Housing LIN’s online planning portal, Planning Homes and Communities for Older People, where you can find a range of useful resources on national guidance, strategies and tools and examples of local planning practice for an ageing population. Visit: https://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/Planning/

The Housing LIN also looks forward to holding a HAPPI Hour webinar on planning for an ageing population in its autumn/winter series. Details to be announced on our events page in due course.