National Planning Policy Framework means local government and developers now face land finding challenge
TerraQuest, the operator of Planning Portal has welcomed the publication of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), while highlighting that local government and developers now face the practical challenge of identifying specific plots of land for development.
The revised NPPF is intended to support the government’s aim of delivering 1.5 million new homes – 370,000 a year – over the current parliamentary term.
The publication of the new NPPF comes just a day after TerraQuest and Planning Portal published a white paper which argues that the single biggest constraint on new homes is the availability of land. Plotting the Future goes on to assess the factors that constrain land availability, from planning constraints, to infrastructure, economic and market factors, as well as existing development, examining how recent government announcements have to a greater or less extent impacted these constraints.
The new NPPF implements the government’s ‘grey belt’ policy, requiring local government to review green belt allocations where needed to meet housing targets, while maintaining a brownfield-first approach.
TerraQuest’s whitepaper concludes that recent announcements are likely to reduce historic constraints on land availability somewhat. For developers and local authorities charged with delivering the 1.5 million new homes the government is calling for, this means quickly identifying suitable land and making use of third-party land finding services, such as that offered by TerraQuest.
Geoff Keal, CEO at TerraQuest, said: “The new NPPF is a welcome development that has the potential to help unlock land for housebuilding. The challenge now will be in identifying enough specific sites for development.
“Identifying and acquiring these sites will be a significant challenge, especially for SME developers and local planning authorities. The efficient identification of suitable sites will be essential here. Our team is experienced in leveraging knowledge of the planning system and our industry contacts to identify sites.”
Plotting the Future is available here.
