National Planning Policy Framework (England)

Richard BlythRoyal Town Planning Institute

RTPI Northern Ireland Policy UpdateBelfast14 JUNE 2012

NPPF summary

• Policy shortening• Policy changing• Context shifting• Lost opportunities

Policy Shortening

• Language• Enforcement• Guidance

Policy Changing

• Presumption in favour of sustainable development• Brownfield Land

Policy Changing

• Housing supply• Garden cities• Town Centres• Managing the change

Context shifting

Lost opportunities

• Statutory NPPF• Real positive planning• National spatial planning

• Individual government departments have over 100 maps relating to policies and programmes

• 100 maps are in 95 different places• Topics covered are:

• Economic growth• Transport • Communications• Housing • Environment

• One third are explicit maps: one third are not

Find out more at www.mapforengland.co.uk

Research findings

• For the public: • Hard to tell how a government policy affects your

area

• For policy makers:• Hard to tell what the cumulative impact of

government policies is on an area

• For business:• Hard to tell how government policies will affect your

business

Why does this matter?

• A website portal where there are layers for each of the key policies and programmes

• Our researchers have mocked this up for a few examples

• But fixed format and not interactive

• Could we take this further?

What do we suggest?

Example Map :Household Growth and Flood Risk

Example Map:Household Growth and Housing Affordability

• Helps to boost growth

• More transparent

• Saves time and money

• Helps coordinate infrastructure across national borders

Some benefits

Some questions

• Should government bring these and other maps together in one place?

• What mapping information should be included and how would it benefit your organisation?

• What key policy areas should be covered and how should the information be published?

• Have we missed anything?

Send your comments to m4e@rtpi.org.uk

Join the debate @RTPIPlanners or #map4england

NPPF Outstanding Issues

• Resources• Good plans in good time• Strategic Planning• Will it work ?