Planning Report 2: What will it take for the NPPF to deliver?
Download Searchland’s UK planning whitepaper - the second in a three part series exploring why the planning system still falls short, and what it will take to fix it.
We invited ten senior planning professionals from the UK’s biggest firms to examine the revised NPPF reforms - cutting through the policy intent to ask why delivery at local level still feels so uncertain.
Expect to uncover:
- Why being plan-led doesn't always mean plans decide outcomes
- How capacity - not conflict - is often the real cause of planning delays
- Why permission isn't the finish line: the hidden delays after resolution to grant
- What the NPPF's focus on transit - oriented development means in practice
- How better use of planning data could make the system more predictable
Why the revised NPPF isn't the whole story
The NPPF 2024 changes were meant to make the planning system more predictable. In practice, being plan-led doesn't always mean plans decide outcomes - and the real cause of delay is often capacity, not conflict between developers and councils.
Getting permission isn't the finish line either. This report looks at the hidden delays that happen after resolution to grant - the gap between "approved in principle" and "spade in ground" - plus what the NPPF's push on transit-oriented development actually means for site selection in practice.
Ten senior planning professionals from Avison Young, Wates Residential, Persimmon Homes, Iceni Projects, Irwin Mitchell, Planning Potential and ROK Planning give their read on where the revised framework helps, and where it still falls short.
Contributions from: Avison Young, Wates Residential, Persimmon Homes, Iceni Projects, Irwin Mitchell, Planning Potential, ROK Planning & Searchland
Want more? Read Planning report 3: How data, digital platforms and proptech are reshaping UK planning
