Can better planning support the government’s Levelling-Up agenda?

On 22 December 2022, the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) published the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy consultation, seeking views on how the development of new national planning policy can support wider objectives for levelling-up. Some of the proposals set out in the consultation included:

• Making clear how housing figures should be derived and applied so that communities can respond to local circumstances.
  
  
• Addressing issues in the operation of the housing delivery and land supply tests to tackle the problem of slow build-out.
  
  
• Enabling new methods for demonstrating local support for onshore wind development.

The CBI’s response highlighted industry’s support for reforming the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and strongly believes that if implemented effectively, a revised NPPF can play an important role in supercharging the delivery of vital infrastructure, boosting the country’s ambitions on homebuilding and supporting our transition to a net zero future.  Whilst the reforms demonstrate the right ambitions, a number of the proposed NPPF changes do not go far enough to address the significant underlying issues in the system which will undermine their successful implementation. Some of the key messages outlined in our response include:

• Businesses will make investment decisions based on the political signals sent by government – and whilst the NPPF contains positive signposts for growth, some of its proposals have the potential to undermine industry confidence.
• To unlock investment in the onshore wind industry and its supply chain, the Government should end the effective ban on onshore wind deployment in England and bring the treatment of onshore wind in line with other forms of generation.
• Failure to put in place the right ‘plumbing’ to resource planning departments and align key partners and agencies behind projects risks slowing down delivery.

Overall, the CBI welcomes the government’s appetite to reform the planning system. The planning system is key, not only