GETTING TO KNOW THE NEW PLANNING PRACTICE GUIDANCE

The Government published a number of updates to the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) in July 2019. Hannah Mannion, planning and environmental expert at Thrings, lays out the key changes.

Accompanying updates to existing sections of the guidance are five new sections:

• Green belt: this identifies a number of matters that need to be taken into account when assessing openness, including visual impact of a development, its duration and remediability, as well as the degree of activity, for example traffic, that would be generated
• Housing supply and delivery: focuses on the requirement to produce and maintain a five year land supply and sets out the evidence needed to demonstrate a site’s deliverability so it can be included in a local authority’s five year housing land supply
• Effective use of land: the section includes advice on how to assess when the land should be “reallocated for a more deliverable use” including planning for higher densities and reallocating land that has not yet been developed
• Housing needs of different groups: advice on how plan-making authorities should identify and plan for the housing needs of particular groups of people, including students, self-builders, the elderly, travellers, those living in rural areas and those using private rented sector homes
• Appropriate assessment: this section deals with what the Habitats Regulations Assessment really is and what applications must contain as well as the impact of the ‘People Over Wind’ judgment on neighbour plans, permission in principle, development orders and planning zones.

To find out a number of key changes please click HERE!