Wiltshire Council's response to the government's National Planning Policy Framework consultation

Question 103

Do you agree with the proposed transitional arrangements? Are there any alternatives you think we should consider?

Answer: yes

Please explain your answer:

We agree that there should be transitional arrangements in applying the policies in the revised Framework and its associated Local Housing Need figure for the purpose of plan-making.

We agree with the statement that 'local planning authorities should continue to progress their plans to adoption under the existing system without delay', where they at more advanced stages, and for those plans to be submitted that have the biggest challenges in terms of needing to plan for significantly higher housing numbers. However, the transitional arrangements should be improved to give authorities that are well advanced the best prospect to achieve this rather than an arbitrary cut off - only one month post publication. This should be increased to three months.

Once up to date plans are in place through the transitional arrangements, the move to higher housing numbers would logically be less onerous as local planning authorities should be able to focus on additional policies necessary to achieve these; having already updated other policies relating to the development of their area.

Use of 200 homes as a difference between old and new targets is unreasonable, as levels of homes vary significantly across local authority areas depending on their size and geography. A percentage increase would be a more reasonable approach to take.

Question 104

Do you agree with the proposed transitional arrangements?

Answer: yes

Please explain your answer:

The proposed transitional arrangements to allow more time for plans to be prepared under the current system, with submission by December 2026, is welcomed and necessary allowing for plans at earlier stages to take into account changes to the revised NPPF.

Clarity on which version of the NPPF applies is helpful.

Question 105

Do you have any other suggestions relating to the proposals in this section?

Answer: yes

Please explain your answer:

In terms of future planning policy, more needs to be done by Government to require developers to implement committed land (allocations and planning permissions) for the use intended in a timely way; and for a greater proportion of the uplift in land value to go towards the delivery of infrastructure and affordable housing.

The continued use of Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments as the basis for future growth is questioned, as the sites they contain don't necessarily relate to the most logical parcels of land to support sustainable expansion of a town or address the issue of ransom sites. More needs to be done to enforce equalisation of land values across strategic parcels of land to facilitate timely delivery of sites