The Communities and Local Government Select Committee, of which Rugby MP Mark Pawsey is a member, today released its report on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The Select Committee’s role is to scrutinise and influence Government policy on issues concerning local governance.
The NPPF is intended to empower local communities on planning issues ensuring that local people make the right decisions for their local areas.
Speaking after the release of the report Mark commented:
“It is important to note that the National Planning Policy Framework was introduced as a draft document and was never intended to be the finished article. As a document for consultation, I welcome the Government’s readiness to change certain aspects of it. I wholeheartedly support the broad thrust of the changes being brought in through the NPPF which will dramatically simplify the present planning framework from over 1000 pages to 50. It is universally accepted that England’s planning policy needs reforming and this draft NPPF is a framework that will allow for good, positive development.”
Responding to reports in the national press regarding the Committee’s report Mark continued:
“The committee has recommended that the original Government’s proposals are amended in a number of ways. At the heart of the recommendations is the call for a more definitive and overarching definition of sustainable development to ensure that environmental and social factors are given equal weight with economic factors when considering potential development proposals. We recommended that, given this extended definition of sustainable development, the presumption in favour of sustainable development should only be seen in cases where this is in agreement with an established local plan.”
Mark continued:
“The committee argues that NPPF should put added emphasis on the importance of an area having an up to date local plan and I am pleased that Rugby Borough Council is one of the progressive local councils to have put a local plan in place. Their hard work, combined with the frameworks’ insistence on local plans, ensure that power is placed firmly within the hands of local people. The Committee also recommended that the Government retains the ‘Town Centre First’ policy which will mean town centres such as Rugby’s are prioritised in terms of future development and that the term “brownfield land” is retained as a priority for development.”
Mark concluded:
“The NPPF presents a real opportunity for the residents of Rugby as it will allow them to directly participate in the local development proposal process through the development of Local Plans. I urge those Rugby residents who want to participate in the future of planning and development in their local area to get involved with the production of their own plans.”