News
Housing planning news, October 2018
01 Oct 2018
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Headline news |
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MHCLG’s first updates of Planning Practice Guidance to reflect new NPPF
MCHLG published new Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) on 13 September for ‘Build to Rent’ and ‘plan-making’.
Updated guidance was also issued on the same day, on ‘housing need assessment’, ‘housing and economic land availability assessment’, ‘local plans’ and ‘neighbourhood planning’.
In summary, the new guidance reflects the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and covers:
Build to Rent
Compared with the consultation draft PPG on Build to Rent (from March 2018), there is only new guidance in relation to when affordable homes in such developments are sold off.
Plan-making
Most of the new ‘plan-making’ guidance in the PPG has only been reordered and revised slightly from the March 2018 draft version – specifically to accurately reflect the finalised NPPF and also to subtly emphasise strategic planning, or alter the degree of flexibility at different stages in plan-making. The most detailed guidance is on Statements of Common Ground; the least elucidating is on plan viability.
Housing need assessment
The ‘Housing Need Assessment’ PPG has replaced the previous PPG on ‘Housing and economic development needs assessments’. The content relating to economic needs assessment has been removed, suggesting that this may be covered in separate PPG at a later date (although Paragraph 033 of the newly published plan-making PPG gives guidance on ‘gathering evidence to plan for business’ and Paragraph 034 covers how functional economic market areas can be defined).
Importantly, the PPG reiterates the Government’s intention to consult again on the standardised housing methodology for assessing needs, as follows:
‘In the housing white paper the Government was clear that reforms set out (which included the introduction of a standard method for assessing housing need) should lead to more homes being built. In order to ensure that the outputs associated with the method are consistent with this, we will consider adjusting the method after the household projections are released in September 2018. We will consult on the specific details of any change at that time.’
Housing and economic land availability assessment
The PPG has been updated to include the draft guidance for ‘Housing Delivery’ released in March 2018, explaining the Government’s new annual measurement of housing delivery for plan-making authorities, and the actions that authorities must take following under-delivery. The guidance and thresholds proposed in the draft are mostly unchanged; they have been included from Paragraph 28 onwards under the sections 'Housing delivery: 5-year land supply' and the 'Housing Delivery Test' at Paragraph 55 onwards.
Local plans
Much of the content in this part of the PPG has now been moved to form part of plan-making guidance. It now only covers:
- Local Plans: key issues
- Preparing a Local Plan
- Publication and examination of a Local Plan
- Local plans - adoption, monitoring and supplementary planning documents
Neighbourhood planning
There are now new Paragraphs 96-99 (Neighbourhood Plans, and housing policies/allocations) that relate to the revised NPPF’s Paragraph 14.
MHCLG, draft PPG, draft updates to planning guidance which will form part of the Government’s online PPG (March 2018)CLG, ‘Fixing our broken housing market’ (February 2017)MHCLG, Planning Practice Guidance New PPG: ‘Build to Rent’ and ‘plan-making’Updated PPG: ‘housing need assessment’, ‘housing and economic land availability assessment’, ‘local plans’ and ‘neighbourhood planning’
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Quote of the month |
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I’m not sure everything needs to look like Cambridge, but how many people in this room believe they have built the conservation areas of the future. Probably not that many.
[...] when we are building this number of houses, if we can get to 300,000, we are not really just building houses we are building neighbourhoods. Developments of a thousand or 500 units are bigger than most villages, and we need to think in those neighbourhood terms, we need to think about the place, the design and beauty, where it fits and what we are, frankly, leaving to posterity.
Housing Minister Kit Malthouse, in his speech to the RESI Conference 2018 on 14 September
RESI Conference 2018 |
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New rules for pre-commencement conditions now in force
On 1 October, new rules for pre-commencement conditions come into force, as a result of secondary legislation that was made and laid in May this year.
There is now a new procedure in place, whereby applicants have to give their written consent to any pre-commencement condition. It applies to pre-commencement conditions imposed only on a grant of planning permission (but not when granted in outline) on or after 1 October 2018. The new procedure is therefore relevant to planning applications that have already been made and that will be determined from now onwards.
Lichfields has already covered the new procedure and its ramifications extensively; the PPG also explains succinctly how it operates.
Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017, s14 (‘Restrictions on power to impose planning conditions’)The Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 (Commencement No.5) Regulations 2018Town and Country Planning (Pre-commencement Conditions) Regulations 2018 and Explanatory MemorandumLichfields’ Planning Matters, Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 – New procedures for pre-commencement conditions come into effect from October 2018Lichfields’ England Planning News, June 2018PPG, The use of pre-commencement conditions
New household projections dramatically reduce housing need
The 2016-based household projections that were published on 20 September suggest a 25% fall in the growth rate of households over the next 25 years.
Using the Government’s new standard method for assessing housing need, the projections would translate to a housing need figure of just 214,000, according to Lichfields’ own analysis.
This is the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) first set of projections, having taken over responsibility from MHCLG in 2017. ONS project average household growth nationally of 159,000 per annum between 2016-41 (165,000 over the ten-year period 2018-28), compared to 210,000 per annum between 2014-39 (218,000 over the ten years 2018–28). The higher projections form the current basis for estimating housing needs under the ‘standard method’, but further changes to the methodology are to be consulted on by MHCLG to provide one that is consistent with achieving 300,000 homes per annum.
ONS, Household projections in England: 2016-based, Indication of the future number of households in England and its regions and local authoritiesLichfields, The 2016-based Household Projections for England
Chief Planner provides updates on planning reforms
On 14 September, Chief Planner Steve Quartermain issued a planning update newsletter outlining the Government’s progress on its programme of planning reforms. The reforms covered include: the revised NPPF; updated PPG; the Housing Delivery Test measurement book; the independent review of planning appeal inquiries; changes to pre-commencement conditions; the 2017/18 Annual Casework Report to Parliament; developer contributions and open data tools; and design charrettes (a Call for Expressions of Interest).
MHCLG, Planning update newsletter
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The Lichfields perspective |
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The lower growth rate [in the new, 2016-based household projections published on 20 September] partly flows from the lower population projections released in May. But the bigger factor is the change in methodology for household formation, which ONS now bases on short-term trends back to 2001, compared to 1971, as previously. The new figures ‘bake in’ the adverse consequences of housing under-delivery in that decade, which included a crash in the rate of housebuilding during the great recession and a marked reduction in affordability. But all in all, these projections may not actually matter very much, given MHCLG’s proposed revised methodology consultation.’
Matthew Spry, Senior Director |
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Disclaimer: This publication has been written in general terms and cannot be relied on to cover specific situations. We recommend that you obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from acting on any of the contents of this publication. Lichfields accepts no duty of care or liability for any loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of any material in this publication. Lichfields is the trading name of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Limited. Registered in England, no.2778116