Rt Hon Greg Clark, MP

Secretary of State

Department for Communities & Local Government

2 Marsham Street                                                                                                                            

London SW1P 4DF                                                                                                                          

May 2016 

Dear Greg,

National Planning Policy Framework

As the Housing & Planning Bill completes its passage through Parliament, and as you consider the responses to the recent DCLG consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), we are writing to outline the Green Party’s vision for future planning policy.

We recognise – indeed, we have repeatedly highlighted – the urgent need to build many more homes, but the planning system is not the main obstacle to tackling the housing crisis. Rather, it is the lack of funding for affordable housing.

Furthermore, as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has noted, your proposed changes to the NPPF will do little if anything to deliver more homes, yet risk compromising other national policy objectives such as protecting the Green Belt and the wider environment: CPRE analysis has revealed an almost threefold increase in the housing planned for Green Belt sites since 2012, while the NPPF gives only weak encouragement to re-using brownfield land. Furthermore, the Housing & Planning Bill’s provisions on ‘permission in principle’ threaten local democratic accountability, by undermining the ability of local people to have an effective say on individual planning decisions.

We believe there needs to be a clear, consistent and long-term focus in planning policy on prioritising investment in brownfield sites – that is, a ‘brownfield first’ approach that minimises encroachment onto undeveloped ‘greenfield sites’ wherever possible. Development should only be permitted on greenfield sites where benefits to the community significantly outweigh the loss of natural space, and where no other previously developed sites are available locally.

Yet national, regional and local planning policy also needs to focus on sustainable development – which means giving greater protection to wildlife-rich brownfield land. To date, planning policy has failed to stem the alarming loss of biodiversity in England and Wales, and to arrest damage to ecology and landscapes – let alone to enhance them.

More generally, planning policy should ensure that all development:

·         Reduces the need to travel, both through local provision of facilities and services wherever possible, and through transport connections that prioritise pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users;
 

·         Delivers the most energy-efficient buildings possible and maximises the potential for local and renewable energy generation;
 

·         Minimises the loss of permeable surface (and increases it wherever possible). Where development entails a reduction of permeable surface area, it must mitigate the resulting increase in surface water run-off using Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS);
 

·         Uses the most ecologically sustainable methods and materials, including the reuse of existing buildings and the recycling of materials;
 

·         Contributes to ensuring a thriving local economy that provides a range of employment opportunities and offers good social and cultural activities; and
 

·         Ensures access to open space and nature, if necessary by creating it.

Finally, we believe the planning system needs to put local people at its heart, and allow communities to set – within the broader parameters outlined above – their own policies on what kind of development they want, or do not want. And this requires that local communities are able to appeal against planning approvals with which they disagree.

We urge you to reflect on these principles, and to reconsider how best to develop a planning system that can deliver truly sustainable development and which, to the greatest extent possible, is in the hands of local people.

Yours sincerely,

Natalie Bennett                              Baroness Jenny Jones                        Caroline Lucas, MP

Leader, Green Party                       House of Lords                                  House of Commons