Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Deferred
Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) are not consistently integrated into Local Plans, resulting in planning decisions...
Conclusion
Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) are not consistently integrated into Local Plans, resulting in planning decisions that do not account for future coastalchange risks. The mismatch between Local Plan timescales and the longerterm horizons of SMPs could lead to developments being approved in areas that are not expected to remain protected, creating avoidable future risk for communities and infrastructure. (Conclusion, Paragraph 36)
Government Response Summary
The government highlighted existing policies requiring local plans to consider coastal change and integrate Shoreline Management Plans. It is currently analysing feedback from a consultation on National Planning Policy Framework changes and will publish its response in due course.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out that local plans should reduce risk from coastal change by avoiding inappropriate development in vulnerable areas and not exacerbating the impacts of physical changes to the coast. The Framework is clear that plans should identify any area likely to be affected by physical changes to the coast as a Coastal Change Management Area (CCMA). Development within a CCMA will only be appropriate where a series of tests can be demonstrated, including (but not limited to) that it will be safe for its planned lifetime, it will not have an unacceptable impact on coastal change, and will provide wider sustainability benefits. The NPPF is supported by Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) which sets out that local planning authorities will need to demonstrate that they have considered Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) when defining CCMAs. Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the Government consulted on changes to the NPPF, including proposals to strengthen our approach to managing coastal change. We proposed a new plan-making policy that specifically references SMPs, setting out that development plans should take into account relevant SMPs and the NCERM when assessing the risks arising from and appropriate approaches to coastal management. To further guard against inappropriate development in vulnerable areas, our proposed new decision-making policy includes a new requirement that proposals within areas shown as being vulnerable to erosion on the NCERM should be subject to the same tests as development proposed within CCMAs (where these areas are not already included within CCMAs). The NCERM is itself informed by SMPs. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course. Furthermore, we are aiming to reduce the complexity and scale of evidence required to support a local plan in the new plan-making system, rather than increase it. The new approach will help ensure local plan evidence is proportionate, relevant, and prepared at the right time, supporting faster and more focused plan-making. The revised NPPF and supporting guidance will support this, helping local planning authorities focus on the evidence required and the level of detail that is genuinely needed to support their plans, limiting abortive work and delays. In the new plan-making system, local authorities are also required to consult on the scope of the evidence base proposed to be prepared to support the local plan.