Consultation on new planning practice guidance

The Government is currently consulting on its new National Planning Practice Guidance. This is intended to replace 230 separate documents of some 7,000 pages of guidance which the government says is impossible for residents and businesses to use effectively. The draft guidance is on the web and designed to allow easy interpretation by the public. The deadline for comments is 14 October.

The new streamlined planning guidance is intended to simplify and clarify the planning system and ensure better community involvement. It covers a range of topics including:

• A new affordability test for determining how many houses should be built 
• Planning appeal hearings allowed to be filmed 
• Discouraging councils from introducing a new parking tax on people’s driveways and parking spaces 
• Encouraging more town centre parking spaces and shared surfaces 
• Discouraging aggressive ‘anti-car’ traffic calming measures, such as speed humps 
• Reducing the amount of ‘street clutter’ 
• Housing for older people – local authorities should plan positively for an ageing population, including the building of more bungalows 
• New neighbourhood planning guidance to help more communities start their own plans 
• New local green space guidance to help councils and local communities to plan for open space and protect local green spaces which are special to them 

The current raft of lengthy, and often impenetrable, guidance documents is proposed to be replaced with a single document that the general public will be able to understand. It is based on the common sense theme that the planning system is designed to balance what we want and need with how this impacts on people and environments. The thrust of what the guidance says is not new but the way in which it is said should help to achieve more public engagement and lead to better applications and quicker decisions.