Over the weekend the National Trust launched new research on how the planning system is working in England. Positive Planning – the NPPF and plan-led development’ finds that flaws in the Government’s planning rules are allowing developers to build housing in inappropriate locations, side-stepping sites allocated in Local Plans. This is how it was reported…
On 28 October the government released new statistics about brownfield sites and their potential for development. This blog looks at what these statistics really mean and how this compares to what other organisations are saying about brownfield land. What’s our view? The National Trust recognises that more houses do need to be built and that…
Today a consultation closes on how Labour propose to change the system we have for planning long-term infrastructure need in the UK. Sir John Armitt, the Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, has been drawing up proposals for the party, and the National Trust has been commenting on these. This matters to us because, whether…
Two years after the National Planning Policy Framework was implemented the Communities and Local Government Committee in Parliament is having a look at it to see how it’s working on the ground. The National Trust fed their views into the creation of the NPPF and we’ve been giving feedback to the committee as part of…
In 2011 the government passed the Localism Act. The Act enables communities to create Neighbourhood Plans through which they can shape the places in which they live. Three years on, we’ve taken a look at the first 20 Plans to see what’s in them. The Plans play a dual role, not only allowing neighbourhoods to…
Today Sir Michael Lyons published the findings of a major review of Housing and Planning policy commissioned nine months ago by the Labour leader Ed Miliband. Housing has become one of the top political issues in recent years, and especially since house building rates fell following the recession and have so far failed to recover.…
We welcome that Sir Michael Lyons’ review does not propose a further shake up of national planning policies, and recognises that many of the problems with undersupply of housing lie with the market rather than failures of the planning system. We agree that the nation needs more homes, and will look carefully at proposals…
