Purpose

To review and approve the draft response from
Buckinghamshire Council to the Government's draft NPPF and other
planning policy reforms.

Content

This report rehearsed the more significant
changes which the government proposed to make to the National
Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and, in Appendix 1 of the report,
set out a comprehensive suggested response to them and the other
revisions included in the consultation which would close on 24
September 2024. Town, Parish Councils, Community Groups and
residents were encouraged to send in their responses to Government
whether in writing or online. They would not need to follow the
suggested response format and would just need to make their views
known.
 
In summary, the government proposed to reverse
the changes contained within the previous version of the NPPF
published in December 2023 and to introduce new measures intended
to boost the supply of housing and allow a more permissive approach
towards new development in the Green Belt.
 
However, the areas of greatest concern which
were highlighted more fully by the Cabinet Member were:
• The proposed changes to the way in
which local housing need was to be calculated, which would lead to
a 42% increase in the figure for Buckinghamshire;
• The proposed changes to Green Belt
policy, particularly a new definition of ‘grey belt’ land
which had the potential to lead to large-scale sporadic
developments across a wide area of the Buckinghamshire Green
Belt;
• The proposed changes to the
requirements relating to maintaining a five
year supply of housing land which were likely
to lead to more speculative planning applications being granted
permission; and
• The lack of a strategic approach to
funding and providing essential local infrastructure when existing
facilities were already overwhelmed.
 
The Leader asked that the following points be
recorded as this was the biggest change in national planning policy
since the war and would completely transform Buckinghamshire with
possible urban sprawl. As a Council it was recognised that, with
the growing population of this County through social change and
immigration, there was clearly a need for more housing. There was
no lack of willingness to build houses. However, they should be
plan-led and built in the right areas and supported by the right
infrastructure with brownfield areas first. Previously housing need
figures could have been negotiated due to Green Belt areas, Areas
of Outstanding Natural Beauty, flood plains, high grade
agricultural land and other constraints but it would be more
difficult to argue this in future. The total uplift in housing
numbers was 42% plus a 5% uplift for deliverability including an
additional proposal for a Taskforce to look at locations for new
towns, which had to be a minimum of 10,000 houses. This equated to
100,000 possible houses as a minimum. The protections on the Green
Belt would also be taken away and the concept of Grey Belt
introduced. Previously there was a five year land
supply requirement which was going to be reduced to four years
under the previous Government. This would now mean that nowhere in
Buckinghamshire would meet that five year land
supply requirement and could mean that developers use this to their
advantage to build anywhere.
 
The Leader reported that there were some
elements of the response that he did not agree with and he asked
that he and the Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration be
delegated authority to make amendments to the sections
on  density, the deletion of First
homes, market housing, the deletion of the reference to beauty and
reference to the deletion of agricultural land which applied
particularly to the north of the County, the concept of which had
been strongly supported by the local MP, Greg Smith. There were
also other minor comments e.g. on the infrastructure section. There
was also the proposal of strategic planning where Buckinghamshire
could be combined with other Councils such as Milton Keynes which
could potentially vote to move housing numbers, solar and wind
farms into Buckinghamshire from their own areas based on strategic
need.  
 
RESOLVED
 
1)
That the response to the consultation on the draft National
Planning Policy Framework set out at Appendix 1 of the report be
approved.
2)
That authority be delegated to the Corporate Director for Planning,
Growth and Sustainability, in consultation with the Cabinet Member
for Planning and Regeneration and the Leader, to approve any
necessary amendments to the Council’s response and to submit
the final response before the consultation deadline.