Much has been said in the press recently about the new Government’s proposed changes to the Planning System and their objective to deliver three million or more homes in the lifetime of this Parliament. We have looked at the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to see what impact these changes may have upon the proposals in the Part 2 Local Plan and the adopted Neighbourhood Plan.
The first significant change is that Central Government are proposing to impose housing delivery targets on Local Councils with the threat of taking control centrally if they fail to deliver those targets. For Broxtowe, the new target is 658 homes per year (3,290 homes in five years) compared to an actual delivery of around 292 homes per annum recently. The Part 2 Local Plan suggests that our Neighbourhood Area has a capacity for 4,500 homes with around 1,300 homes delivered by 2028. To achieve even this number would require homes to be delivered at a minimum of 300 homes per year.
As yet, there are no timescales for any of the Developers to submit Planning Applications and the length of time available to build those homes shortens day by day. However, the Neighbourhood Plan has been adopted and the Forum has been meeting with some of the potential Developers for some time. The Local Community’s views (particularly on Infrastructure, Greenspace, Employment and Sustainability) are expressed within the Policies and Aspirations of the Neighbourhood Plan and therefore Planning Applications, when submitted, ought to be able to be created in a way which minimises local objections and shortens the length of time for the Applications to gain approval.
Unfortunately, of course, Planning Approval does not imply that the Developers will deliver homes at the rate needed to meet the delivery target.
The second significant change is the focus upon Affordable Homes. This actually should have little impact upon Developments in our Area as the Neighbourhood Plan Policies include a requirement for 30% Affordable Homes to meet the stated need of 137 Affordable Homes per annum in Beeston. The only possible issues are whether developments with 30% Affordable Homes are “viable” and whether the Affordable Homes will be delivered in parallel with the rest of the development. Experience suggests that Developers have a tendency to deliver Market Homes first with Affordable Homes tagged on as an afterthought, or not deliver them at all or not in full, but instead make a Section 106 payment to the local authority. The NPPF could have required that Affordable Homes should be delivered at a rate equal to the rest of the development but, HOW the homes are delivered is not part of the Planning Process.
The discussion about removing the need for homes to be “beautiful” has also caused some debate. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and whilst the Neighbourhood Plan seeks to “break free of the curse of red-brick and imitating the past”, using the BREEAM Home Quality Mark will give a quantifiable measure of the quality of the design and construction of new homes in the Neighbourhood Area.
Finally, there is the debate about Green Belt/Grey Belt. The NPPF adds a new “exceptional circumstance” under which Green Belt can be allocated for housing and introduces a new category which is effectively Green Belt that has already been built on (although its not entirely clear). The new “exceptional circumstance” is where the Local Council fails to deliver housing at the required rate. As highlighted above, the actual delivery of housing is not in the control of the Council, Developers create houses at a rate of their choosing.
The only area of green belt that remains in our Neighbourhood Area is that “North of the Tram”. The present draft Strategic Plan shows this remaining green belt until after 2038. There is ample capacity within the Neighbourhood Area (the Strategic Location for Growth and Chetwynd Barracks) for the Neighbourhood Area to make a strong contribution to Broxtowe’s Housing target provided the Landowners and Developers commit to submitting Planning Applications and build the houses without the need for additional short-term capacity to be identified. Should the area north of the tram be considered for development by Broxtowe in order to meet the short-term targets set by Central Government, there is no guarantee that those homes will be delivered, particularly as they will have an expectation to deliver 50% Affordable Homes which would potentially make the development unviable without raising the price of houses still further to provide the necessary profit margin for the developers.
We will remain in contact with Broxtowe and other Stakeholders and let you know what we can.
The Draft NPPF is available following this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-reforms-to-the-national-planning-policy-framework-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system/proposed-reforms-to-the-national-planning-policy-framework-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system
This link gives all the documents in the consultation
and also gives the means by which you can make your comments online.
Responses to the NPPF should be made before the 24th September.
In addition, here is a link to a webinar given by BREEAM on the Home Quality Mark:
The slides are available here: https://email-bregroup.com/c/AQi6_AsQ-Y2qARiEiIrLASChx9IrAezsLOfr1In8MhY2WUw1SlxGCDVPKzk4DD7GTnv6bSM
And finally the BBC Briefing Room released a half hour Podcast “Can Planning Reform really boost economic growth” which is available on the BBC Sounds App.
If you have views that you would like to express, use our Contact-Us form and we will add them to our Q&A Page.