In early 2023, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) responded to the government’s consultation on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The TCPA welcomed the review of national planning policy for England, as an opportunity to redirect the focus of the planning system to deal with a post pandemic world in which health, the climate crisis and the delivery of well-designed affordable homes should be the Government’s key priorities.
While the TCPA welcomed some of the detail in the review on, for example, carbon
forecasting, overall the proposed changes to the NPPF did not create a platform for sustainable development. This was because the proposals were silent on health inequalities, risked resulting in a serious under-provision of homes and failed to shift policy priorities towards addressing the climate crisis.
