The much anticipated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has now become a reality. Over a thousand pages of guidance in 44 separate policy documents have been withdrawn. The 52 pages which replace them all are promised by David Cameron to be " ..the biggest simplification to our bureaucratic top down planning laws in 60 years.." and were heralded in the budget by George Osborne with the bold statement: "The NPPF will refocus planning policy to better support growth..".
Will the reality live up to the hyperbole?
A backlash against the earlier draft from the anti development lobby (including the National Trust and Campaign to Protect Rural England) has resulted in a rewrite of many aspects of the NPPF that provoked adverse comment from middle England.
The controversial "presumption in favour of sustainable development" has been retained, but now "sustainability" is defined to include social and environmental factors, not just economic ones. It adds emphasis to the "sustainable", rather than "development", limb of the presumption.
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