Estate Matters Episode 20: Iestyn John | Navigating the updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)

The Government’s revised planning policies offer opportunities for landowners and developers to create more homes more quickly – without compromising on the provision of essential infrastructure or abandoning high quality design.

That is the positive message from planning consultant Iestyn John in the latest episode of the Estate Matters podcast from KOR Communications, recorded following the launch of an updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) by the Labour Government.

Iestyn, a Partner with planning consultants Bell Cornwell who runs the company’s Exeter office, is joined on the podcast by Andrew Howard, KOR Communications’ public affairs specialist.

Both agree the main thrust of the revisions is creating more new homes, with a special emphasis on affordable accommodation to solve the housing crisis.

Iestyn says the reforms set out in the NPPF will put pressure on local planners to deliver on increased housing targets and meet the Government’s target of building 1.5 million more homes this parliament.

“Local authorities are going to be forced to deliver that and that means they are going to have to look more critically at locations that they might have preferred to avoid for local political reasons,” he tells podcast host Anna Byles.

In areas like the South West he says that will mean looking at coastal and countryside locations currently considered off-limits for development in order to reach the number of homes the Government wants to see built.

“If it is done carefully and with the right design ethos that seems like an eminently sensible thing to me,” he says. “I think there’s a lot of opportunities that have been lost over time by not allocating land in locations that could take developments, subject to careful design.”

Andrew tells the podcast that while the NPPF emphasises the importance of speeding up the planning process and removing barriers to development, consultation with local stakeholders and communities will remain essential.

“Our role is working with the local community and local councillors to help them understand why plans are being brought forward,” Andrew says. He adds that consultation and communication on proposals will need to happen earlier in the planning process when local plans are being drawn up, but there will still be a requirement to consult once firm plans are submitted.

And he says where new homes are being built on estate land in the same ownership for hundreds of years the importance of creating quality properties that communities need and that reflect well on the estate and its owners will remain essential.

Iestyn points out that good quality design and cost-effective housing are not mutually exclusive. “There is still plenty of opportunity for good quality design if it’s not too heavily target driven,” he says.“There is a risk that it becomes all about the numbers, but that’s where you need local authorities to be properly resourced.”

He admits that is a challenge and the money offered by the Government to boost recruitment in council planning departments may not be enough, especially because councils have been under financial pressure in the recent past and have often made cuts.

Both he and Andrew agree that further proposals from the Government to speed up the creation of more unitary authorities, combining district councils, could disrupt efforts to improve the planning process and create more housing.

“I have a fear that if we have local government disruption of the scale that a unitary can bring this will impede those planning officers who are trying to get on and do the job and help deliver the growth that the country demands,” Andrew tells the podcast.

But the broad message from both guests is that landowners need to engage positively with the NPPF and work with local authorities, many of which will be seeking development sites to include in expanded local plans. 

Iestyn concludes his advice to landowners and estates: “If you have got land, put your site up,” he says. “Advocate it for whatever use you think it is appropriate for – be it housing, commercial or whatever.”