Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Accepted in Part
Subject National Development Management Policies to full parliamentary scrutiny before implementation
Recommendation
Each draft NDMP should be subject to full and proper parliamentary scrutiny before coming into force. Any draft NDMP which would have the effect of superseding the plan-led system should be carefully considered in Parliament on a case-by-case basis. 40 Reforms to national planning policy The Government should table an amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill to make NDMPs subject to similar parliamentary requirements as National Policy Statements, as outlined in section 9 of the Planning Act 2008. (Paragraph 116) Reforms to national planning policy 41
Government Response Summary
The government states National Development Management Policies (NDMPs) will not supersede the plan-led system and will be subject to public consultation, allowing Parliamentarians to scrutinise them, but does not commit to making them subject to the same formal parliamentary requirements as National Policy Statements.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
Government response Through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, we are strengthening the role of the Development Plan in decision-making on planning applications so that communities will have more certainty about what development will happen in their areas and will have more confidence in their plan. We are doing this by changing section 38 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 so that planning applications must be decided in accordance with the Development Plan and any National Development Management Policies unless material considerations strongly indicate otherwise. Introducing National Development Management Policies will make sure that, when the decision-making test is changed, important national planning policy protections will continue to apply in planning decisions, even when policies in plans go out-of-date. At present national planning policy has variable weight in planning decision as a material consideration; giving National Development Management Policies statutory status will give greater clarity as to how decision makers should treat national planning policies when making planning decisions. This is crucial to reducing the number of successful planning appeals against local authorities’ decisions and therefore reducing the number of unanticipated developments communities face on their doorstep as a result. National Development Management Policies will not supersede the plan-led system, but will sit alongside the Development Plan, forming part of the suite of policies that need to be considered in determining applications. They will allow locally produced plans to focus on matters of genuine local importance, allowing them to be prepared and kept up to date more easily, further helping to secure a plan-led approach. National Development Management Policies will be subject to public consultation before they are introduced, other than in the exceptional circumstances set out in the Act, giving everyone with an interest, including Parliamentarians, the opportunity to scrutinise them and comment before they come into effect.