What does the draft National Planning Policy Framework mean for local government?

Context

Our planning system is plan-based.  That is, plans, which can range from covering a single neighbourhood to a whole region, are set out in policies that specify where things should be built and what they should look like. Therefore, development should not be approved unless it, on balance, meets these policies. 

The policies in these plans must follow the government’s national policies set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), giving national oversight to local context.

Just before Christmas 2025, the government published a new draft NPPF.  It was quite different to its predecessors because it set out national decision-making policies.  Local authorities are expected to make planning decisions in line with these policies or with local policies they have adopted that explain how they should be applied in their area.

The impact of the NPPF

Policies cover many different objectives, from supporting better public health to reducing carbon emissions, from requiring biodiverse habitats to be provided to showing how waste should be dealt with. There are 18 different sections covering various topics.

Housing targets

One of the best-known and most impactful sets of policies is around housing targets.  The government sets target numbers for each authority, and the local plans must indicate the land on which these can be built.  If they don’t allocate enough land and deliver enough housing, they can enter something called the ‘tilted balance’ where substantial weight is given to the policies that require housing delivery above other policies.  This is sometimes also referred to as the presumption in favour of development, where housing applications are approved even if they don’t meet other policy requirements.  That is, the delivery of housing trumps all other planning objectives, and some argue that the current system (the draft NPPF has not been formally adopted yet) says yes to building any quality housing almost anywhere.

Placemaking strategy

The design and placemaking section of the NPPF provides policies on both planning and decision-making.  These policies move away from the previous NPPF’s focus on design codes as the primary tool local authorities should use to deliver good quality places. Instead, the 2025 draft calls on local authorities to develop an authority-wide strategy for placemaking that encompasses a range of tools and policy approaches.  

In terms of local plans, the draft NPPF calls for their decisions about what should be built where to be underpinned by a clear vision on the place designs required.  This could relate to setting local density targets, requirements for building heights, development layouts, street designs, car parking provision, or how nature should be incorporated into schemes.   

Decision making processes

When it comes to decision-making, policy DP3 of the draft NPPF sets out eight place characteristics schemes that schemes should create through their design. It says that schemes that do not do this should be refused.  The eight represent a broad range of playmaking priorities.  They include things like a requirement for schemes to include useful, safe and inclusive public spaces and to have building forms and layouts that efficiently use land.     

Design processes

The draft NPPF also includes a policy on the design process.  This asks local authorities to use design review panels to inform their negotiation and decision making on a scheme’s design merits and use conditions to ensure the original scheme objectives are taken forward through design work undertaken after permission is granted.  The idea of this policy is to support better design understanding and consideration within decision making and prevent watering down of quality later in the process.

Comment

Overall, it could be argued that the new draft NPPF represents a step change in national design policy, and that, if adopted, the argument that a lack of local housing delivery means approval of poor quality schemes should no longer apply.  That is, the presumption in favour of development would not be an excuse to build badly designed places.  

Why is this? Well, the policies in the draft NPPF that set out the presumption in favour of development say that if a scheme does not meet one of the other NPPF policies that say ‘refuse’, like policy DP3, then the presumption may not apply.  That is, you can’t build anything almost anywhere just because you have not been building enough.  What is built has to be of good quality and create sustainable, successful and valued places.

The requirements in DP3 are not onerous; they are basic quality asks. Any scheme should be able to meet them if properly designed. However, some will worry that DP3 will be used by those wishing to stop development because the eight characteristics could be interpreted in different ways by different people.  

This is where the new Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance (D&PPPG) comes in. It explains the types of forms that would or would not meet DP3 and provides guidance to local authorities on how to set their own clear design requirements. It also covers the variety of tools available to add clarity and certainty to how DP3 and any local policies that sit under it should be interpreted and applied at the local level.

Overall, the draft NPPF and D&PPPG herald a new era in how the physical side of planning should be addressed. They steer decisions on the form and detailing of places – the things you can draw and which form the backbone of any planning application.

Urban Design Learning are a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2002 to support built environment professionals to create well-designed spaces and places. UDL exists primarily to promote the delivery of well-designed change to the built environment and ensure good management of existing places and spaces. You can find more about UDL on their website.