Written statement on Local Plan-Making and Guidance - Feb 27

Housing and Planning Minister (Matthew Pennycook): Planning is principally a local activity. It is local plans that set out a vision and a framework for the future development of any given area, addressing needs and opportunities in relation to housing, the economy, community facilities and essential infrastructure – as well as a basis for conserving and enhancing the natural and historic environment, mitigating and adapting to climate change, and achieving well designed places.

Local plans are the best way for communities to shape decisions about how to deliver the housing and wider development that their areas need and we know that areas with up-to-date local plans deliver more homes overall than those without one. For these reasons, the plan-led approach is, and must remain, the cornerstone of our planning system.

I am today updating the House on further steps the government is taking to progress toward universal coverage of local plans and to realise the full potential of the planning reforms we initiated last year.

Responding to the 2023 consultation on implementation of plan-making reforms

While there are clear benefits to communities of having an up-to-date local plan, fewer than a third of local areas have one in place. That is partly the result of how inaccessible and cumbersome the plan-making process can be.

The current way of preparing plans is not optimised for community participation. Plans can be lengthy, hard to read and difficult for those without specialist planning knowledge to engage with. They also often take a long time to prepare, at least seven years on average, which means they can be out of date too quickly, and communities struggle to understand the many different consultation phases.

The government want to make new local plans simpler to understand and use, so that communities can more easily shape them. We want them to clearly show what is planned in a local area – so that residents can more easily engage with them, especially while they are being drawn up. We want them to be prepared and examined more quickly to ensure they reflect current local needs. And we want them to make the best use of new digital technology, to enhance access and drive improved productivity and efficiency in the plan-making process.

Following detailed analysis of all the responses submitted, as well as extensive engagement with the sector, the government is today publishing its response(opens in a new tab) to the previous government's consultation on the new-plan making system. We intend to proceed largely as set out in that consultation, with necessary regulations, policy and guidance to be confirmed later this year.

Local planning authorities have also told us that they need clearer guidance and more practical tools to speed up plan-making. We are therefore launching today a new dedicated home for plan-making resources on gov.uk: Create or Update a Local Plan(opens in a new tab). This brings together all the essential tools and guidance councils need to quickly develop a local plan, underpinned by quality data. We will be adding more practical resources to this site over the coming months to help planners at all stages of the plan-making process.

Updates to Green Belt, Local Nature Recovery Strategies and Effective Use of Land Planning Policy Guidance

The government is also revising Planning Practice Guidance to support local planning authorities in their plan making.

We are clear that development must look to brownfield first, prioritising the development of previously used land wherever possible. However, we know brownfield development alone will not be enough to meet our housing need. That is why the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published in December 2024 included a new approach to the Green Belt, prioritising the release of lower quality grey belt land within it and introducing ‘golden rules' to ensure any Green Belt development benefits communities and nature.

To ensure our Green Belt reforms are implemented effectively and to support a more consistent approach to assessing Green Belt land, we have today published new guidance(opens in a new tab) for local planning authorities. This will support authorities with the production of local development plans whilst also making sure that planning applications and development on suitable grey belt land can proceed in the short term in areas where up-to-date plans are not in place.

Guidance(opens in a new tab) has also been revised today on making effective use of land setting out how to apply paragraph 125c of the NPPF. This gives substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for homes and other identified needs, taking into consideration other policies including those relating to the protection of heritage assets when making decisions.

We have also published new guidance(opens in a new tab) on Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) as part of updates to the Natural Environment and Plan-making Planning Practice Guidance. LNRSs are new strategies being prepared across England to agree priorities for nature recovery and propose actions in the locations where they will have the greatest impact for nature.

They will also provide valuable evidence for plan making and may contain information to support decisions on planning applications, so the updated guidance provides clarity on how Local Planning Authorities can have regard to LNRS's in both the plan making and decision-making process. One of the 48 LNRSs has been published (West of England Combined Authority), the other 47 are expected to follow during 2025.

Funding Support for Local Authorities

Alongside the publication of the revised NPPF in December 2024, we announced funding(opens in a new tab) to support local authorities with the costs of carrying out Green Belt reviews. Eligible local authorities were invited to submit an Expression of Interest to request a share of this funding.

We are today announcing that 133 local authorities will receive £70,000 of pump priming funding each to contribute towards the costs of carrying out Green Belt reviews in their areas. This will be paid to those local authorities shortly. We are keen to hear feedback from local authorities as to whether this is a sufficient level of funding and we will be reaching out to affected local authorities in due course.

We also want to help local authorities continue to drive forward their local plans whilst taking new policy into account. That is why on 14 February 2025, we announced new funding to support local plan delivery for authorities at Regulation 18 stage. This is in addition to the funding for local authorities with plans at Regulation 19 stage, announced in December 2024. Eligible local authorities are invited to submit an Expression of Interest form by 28 February 2025 to request a share of this funding, and we will announce which local authorities will receive both Regulation 18 and Regulation 19 local plans funding in due course.

Pathways to Planning Funding

The Pathways to Planning programme provides local planning authorities with a pipeline of talented graduates, adding value to local authority planning teams and contributing to the sustainability of the planning profession. Almost 90 graduate planners started work through the programme last year, and the current recruitment process has seen more than 2,000 graduates apply.

The government remains committed to enhancing the capacity and capability of local planning authorities. We are therefore allocating £4.5 million for the Local Government Association's latest Pathways to Planning initiative to fund salary bursaries for new planning roles in councils. We are setting ambitious targets for the programme, where we are hoping to exceed the 300-planner target by the end of 2026. Local planning authorities can indicate their interest in a salary-funded role on the programme's expression of interest form(opens in a new tab) and can learn more about the programme here.