Call To Clarify Housing Sites Request in Planning Framework

The Government has been told to clarify its call on councils to identify five years' worth of housing sites - as laid down by the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) - by a group of MPs. In its review the CLG select committee have told the Government to rewrite key planks of the NPPF, which they say carries the risk of the planning system being used to implement "unsustainable development". As part of its recommendations, it is calling on the Government to clarify the request on councils to identify a rolling supply of housing sites for development, saying that they should be able to "prioritise" brownfield sites within their allocations. There had been fears that identifying five years' worth of housing sites - plus an additional allowance of 20% (effectively a six-year supply) - would put "irresistible pressure" on councils to release greenfield land unnecessarily. Read the report on the Parliament website.