Having won a government commitment to make significant reforms to the planning system, MP Bob Seely is now working to make sure the new plans work for communities on the ground.
Following a successful campaign led by Mr Seely, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, announced new measures to place local communities at the heart of the planning system.
Concessions won include strengthening the government’s commitment to build enough of the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure, making housing targets a ‘starting point’ with new flexibilities to reflect local circumstances, introducing new penalties for slow developers failing to build already-approved homes and bringing in new powers for local authorities to promote brownfield development.
Following these commitments, the government launched a consultation on its approach to updating the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – a document that sets out the government’s planning policies for England and how these should be applied - which lasted until 2 March 2023.
Mr Seely said: “Last year we campaigned for government to make significant improvements to our planning system to make it work better for our communities. I’m delighted that government listened and is willing to make changes.
“Now, we must make sure those changes work on the ground - so we need to focus on the detail now being presented. That’s why I have submitted a detailed response to the NPPF consultation to make sure that it works for the Island and other rural communities.”
In his consultation response, Mr Seely welcomed many of the changes including housing targets now being advisory - not mandatory and that priority will now be given to brownfield development over greenfield – two things he vigorously campaigned for.
He said: “High housing targets make it hard for local councillors to turn down bad development proposals.
“Of course, we need new homes, but we need to ensure the right type of homes are built in the right places and that these are spread fairly between different areas and not all crammed into the crowded south of England.
“We need to adopt a ‘brownfield first’ approach and bring communities with us.”
He also supported the principle of a new character test in the planning system allowing councils and inspectors to consider the poor previous conduct of developers.
The revised NPPF is expected to be published in Spring 2023.
