Wiltshire Council ran a webinar on Wednesday evening about the government’s proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).  You can watch it (again) on the Council’s YouTube channel.  To find out more about the government’s proposals and to take part in the consultation, visit: Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system – GOV.UK.  The consultation ends at 11.45pm on Tuesday 24 September 2024.

What follows is a note from a member of the Parish Council who attended the webinar.  Please note that these are personal views, not those of the Council.

Wiltshire’s house-building targets have been increased by 81%.  This will mean that the allocation given to communities such as ours will also increase – though by how much is not clear.

WC planners think that the timetable for the emerging Local Plan is such that it will be examined under the existing NPPF.  This is good as there will be no delays, and having an up-to-date local plan normally offers protection from speculative development.

That said, it is clear that as soon as the local plan is approved, it will immediately have to be revised to accommodate the new NPPF.  That is, more housing sites will have to be found.  At this point the need for a 5-year HLS will apply.  This is likely to mean that speculative development will be back as builders test Wiltshire’s local plan against the NPPF rules.  We can expect to be negatively affected by this.  There is likely to be pressure from WC planners to planning committees to approve proposals.

The news on neighbourhood plans was mixed.  It’s good that they have been retained, and that, once approved (“made” in the jargon) they can provide 5 years worth of protection against speculative development.  Not so good was the warning that, given the increase in housing numbers, neighbourhood plans “might need to be overridden”.  Over-ridden by whom was not clear.