Fresh reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework will see local councils told they must play their part to meet housing need by reaching a new ambitious combined target of 370,000 homes a year.
The new framework sets mandatory targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding across the country.
Under new planning rules, areas with the highest unaffordability for housing and greatest potential for growth will see housebuilding targets increase, while stronger action will ensure councils adopt up-to-date local plans or develop new plans that work for their communities.
A new common-sense approach will also be introduced to the greenbelt. While remaining committed to a brownfield-first approach, the updated NPPF will require councils to review their greenbelt boundaries to meet targets, identifying and prioritising lower quality “grey belt” land.
Any development on green belt land must meet strict requirements, via the new “golden rules”, which require developers to provide the necessary infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a premium level of social and affordable housing.
To further tackle the housing crisis, councils and developers will also need to give greater consideration to social rent when building new homes and local leaders have greater powers to build genuinely affordable homes for those who need them most.
Under the current planning framework, just under one-third of local authorities have adopted a local plan within the past five years and the number of homes granted planning permission has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. Following consultation, areas must commit to timetables for new plans within 12 weeks of the updated NPPF or ministers will step in and their “existing suite of intervention powers to ensure plans are put in place”, said the government.
Prime minister Keir Starmer said: “Our plan for change will put builders not blockers first, overhaul the broken planning system and put roofs over the heads of working families and drive the growth that will put more money in people’s pockets.”
Deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, Angela Rayner added: “From day one I have been open and honest about the scale of the housing crisis we have inherited. This mission-led government will not shy away from taking the bold and decisive action needed to fix it for good.
“Today’s landmark overhaul will sweep away last year’s damaging changes and shake up a broken planning system which caves into the blockers and obstructs the builders.”
“I will not hesitate to do what it takes to build 1.5m new homes over five years and deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation,” said Rayner. ”We must all do our bit and we must all do more. We expect every local area to adopt a plan to meet their housing need. The question is where the homes and local services people expect are built, not whether they are built at all.”
Ministers will provide local authorities with three months in which to progress local plans that are currently in development, but are also introducing a new requirement that where plans based on old targets are still in place from July 2026, councils will need to provide for an extra year’s supply of homes in their pipeline – six years instead of five.
Where they do not, the strengthened presumption in favour of sustainable development would apply alongside the existing safeguards in national policy around provision of affordable housing, design quality and sustainability of location.
The new rules also state that brownfield land must continue to be the first port of call for any new development and the default answer when asked to build on brownfield should always be “yes”.
The government is also exploring further action to support and expedite the development of brownfield land in urban areas through “brownfield passports” with more details to be set out next year.
To support councils to update their local plans and review their current green belt land, areas will receive an additional £100m next year that can be used to hire more staff and consultants, as well as more resources to carry out technical studies and site assessments.
Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “It’s very positive that the government has quickly recognised and responded to the fact that to drive economic growth and deliver a step change in housing delivery we need a planning system which is agile, fit for purpose, adequately resourced and, crucially, retains a plan-led approach at its core.
“The revised NPPF and other recent and mooted reforms go some way to addressing this, but more remains to be done. While this new framework will help industry’s confidence to build more homes of all tenures, including build-to-rent and affordable homes, it must integrate with other emerging frameworks such as the industrial strategy and the national infrastructure plan to enhance economic growth. That we need to deliver housing is beyond doubt, but those homes and the communities require critical infrastructure, including logistics, and jobs to be economically sustainable.”
She added: “We urge that these revised housing targets align with employment space targets to create places where people can live and work. Going forward, government should build on this positive start by addressing other causes of subdued delivery rates, such as viability challenges, weaker-than-expected economic sentiment and market demand, and construction sector capacity.”
Landsec chief executive Mark Allan said the revisions introduced welcome changes to encourage development which he said would be critical if the government wants to achieve its targets on economic growth and delivering new homes.
He said: “For too long the planning system has been a barrier to these objectives. The measures announced today, and the proposed reforms to modernise local decision-making, are yet more positive signals for our sector. But work cannot stop here. Ministers must ensure their reforms – which were clearly spelled out during the election campaign – translate into a change in local planning decisions. This will mean more direction from the centre, and incentives for bold local leaders willing to play their part in these vital national missions, of which there are already strong examples.”
He added: “We also need to ensure that all forms of regulation focused on our sector are aligned with this growth mission. We can’t reform planning only to stifle growth through the continued layering of wider regulation that limits our ability to maximise the benefits presented by development. Everything needs to point in the same direction.”
Allan said the next focus needed to be on investing in infrastructure and enhancing skills provision across the UK.
“The government clearly recognises the benefits development can bring,” said Allan. “It is up to our sector, in partnership with mayors and local leaders, to see those realised.”
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