The NPPF a missed opportunity

The draft NPPF has received a bit of a kicking in the national press over the past couple of months. What started out as a little talked of policy paper, quietly ushered out in July of this year, has led to all out conflict, between the Department of Communities and Local Government, and just about everyone else. The participation of prominent groups in the debate, including the National Trust, has propelled the issue to the forefront of public attention.

In the face of a sudden tide of opposition the Government leapt to the NPPF's defence, by producing a three paged ‘Myth Busting’ fact sheet on the DCLG website, which was supposed to answer all questions and allay any concerns people might have about it. This exercise amounted to little more than a poor PR stunt, which has unsurprisingly done nothing to change public opinion.

After all, by that stage, people had already come to their own conclusions about the NPPF, namely, that it represents a developers charter, with presumption in favour of development meaning that local people will not get to have a say in the future of their neighbourhoods.

This is largely a problem of the Government’s own making. At the time the document was produced they focused their attention on the ‘cutting of red tape’ angle, trumpeting the fact that they were shortening the planning policy from 1000 pages to 50 pages. The details of the policy were largely irrelevant at the time, and this has contributed to the problems the Government is currently facing.

This follows a familiar pattern of policies set out by this Government. The so-called cutting of red tape and the abolition of bureaucracy is all too often used as the reason for a policy, rather than as a by-product of good policy.

No one thinks that there should be unnecessary rules and red tape holding back the building of new affordable homes, and no one could seriously argue against the need to stimulate the economy through the construction industry.

These arguments are now likely to fall on deaf ears, as the Government did not come out all guns blazing in the first place promoting the policy in these terms.

What is a pity is that there is now so much public opposition to the NPPF, that there is a good chance it will disappear altogether, or be substantially watered down. If this does happen, it will be entirely the fault of the Government for the way it handled this issue. They will then have to think long and hard about how they intend to solve the pressing need for affordable housing in this country.

David Scane

David Scane is an experienced Labour Party Campaigner having worked for the Party in the run up to the 2010 General Election at their Central Office. He has previously worked in Parliament for a Shadow Minister , and in the constituency office of former Labour MP for Battersea Martin Linton.