Following our overview last month of the consultation draft of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the emerging policies reveal encouraging changes with potential benefits for rural landowners and businesses.
Last month we explained how the NPPF has been re written and outlined some of the wider changes that are proposed. This month, our attention turns to the elements of the draft that are most relevant to development in the countryside.
A key feature of the draft NPPF is the introduction of new national ‘decision making policies’, intended to provide clearer, more rules based guidance to reduce uncertainty and bring greater consistency to planning. One of the most significant aspects for rural areas is policy that specifically applies to development outside settlements. This identifies types of development appropriate in the countryside that should be approved unless the benefits of doing so would be substantially outweighed by adverse impacts. Among other things, this includes agricultural and forestry buildings, development for rural businesses that require a countryside location and the reuse and modest extension or replacement of existing buildings. It also supports the redevelopment of previously developed/brownfield land, including for residential or mixed uses, and development that meets an evidenced unmet need.
For isolated new homes in the countryside, the draft policy continues to provide a policy route for dwellings where justification exists, such as essential rural worker housing, where the development will secure the future of heritage assets or the re use of redundant buildings, or deliver an exceptional quality design led home that is truly outstanding.
Although the draft NPPF remains out to consultation, landowners and rural businesses should be alert to the direction of policy, as once it is introduced it will become a key consideration in the determination of planning applications. The draft states that where local plan policies are inconsistent with national policy, they should be given very limited weight. This is something we are already factoring into our advice to clients and the emerging NPPF policies may create opportunities to revisit proposals that were previously discounted or refused.
