National Planning Policy Framework

The other core principles of the framework are of a genuinely plan-led system, empowering local people to shape their surroundings, and seeking high quality design and standards.

An outline of proposed reforms to the British planning system was published in a policy green paper by the Conservative Party in February 2010 prior to that year's general election.

[7] On 23 May 2019 the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a Written Ministerial Statement to remove paragraph 209a from the revised National Planning Policy Framework following a legal judgement.

[11] Friends of the Earth (FOE) has criticised the NPPF revisions for lack of environmental review, in that it makes it "virtually impossible" for councils to refuse fracking schemes, that it fails to address the problems in coal developments or on building within green belts, and that it introduces harsh rules for wind farms.

[12] Also in 2018, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) raised concerns about the extreme streamlining of the revised NPPF, indicating that it treated land as a commodity, rather than as a finite resource.

The amount of guidance in circulation has grown significantly in recent years meaning the volume of government planning advice is similar to what existed prior to the introduction of the NPPF.

On 27 August 2020, campaign group Rights: Community: Action applied for a judicial review of the statutory instruments on the basis that the changes introduced were unlawful citing a lack of scrutiny, consultation or impact assessments as well as a failure of the government to take account of its own independent experts.