Proposed updates to the NPPF – What does it mean for economic development?

Further clarity was provided on Spatial Development Strategies (SDS), which should aim to:

• Identify the strategic needs for an area and apportion those needs to Local Planning Authorities.
• Take a long term view of 20 years.
• Identify broad locations for strategic development including new settlements, major urban extensions, major cross-boundary development and key employment areas, grounded in Local Growth Plans and the Industrial Strategy.
• Satisfy a ‘positive’ test of soundness- by setting out a proactive approach to delivering growth which, at a minimum, seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs and is underpinned by effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters.

In theory, SDS’s are intended to be high-level, strategic documents, covering sub-regional areas. This creates an opportunity to overcome some of the challenges of the Duty to Cooperate that have been so evident in recent years, and should enable strategic economic infrastructure to be properly planned for across functional economic areas.

However, the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill allows for a range of types of strategic planning authorities (para 12A(2)), so SDS geographies may not necessarily align with functional economic market areas, ultimately limiting effective planning for growth.  There is also going to need to be a fair amount of capacity building in some areas to be able to develop SDS’s, as well as building trust between stakeholders.

Hardisty Jones delivered an Economic Development Needs Assessment for the newly formed Somerset Unitary Authority last year, supplementing our experience assessing different levels of urban/rural and functional geographies for plan making.

Substantial weight will be given to the economic benefits of commercial development proposals under a new national decision making policy, with specific reference given to freight and logistics schemes.

This means that economic evidence of the benefits of commercial developments will likely underpin decision making. Find out more about our experience preparing economic evidence to support development proposals.

Strengthened support for freight and logistics is also given through a new policy on sector specific planning considerations.

It seems there is increasing recognition among policy makers that this is essential economic infrastructure, but mixed feelings remain at a more local level due to the scale of land take and perceptions of low job creation. It would appear the UK Government is trying to push/encourage LPAs to take a more positive view of the sector.

Other updates include:

• Plan makers should avoid overly prescriptive requirements for uses of allocated sites, to allow flexibility in response to market changes.
• Plans should set out a clear economic vision and strategy which takes a positive, proactive, and realistic approach to encouraging sustainable economic growth
• A greater emphasis on diversifying town centre uses, to address the over-supply of retail floorspace and create opportunities for more residential accommodation. There is also potential to remove the sequential test, which could introduce more flexibility into the location of development for main town centre uses.

If you require evidence to demonstrate the economic benefits of proposed developments or you need strategic economic evidence to develop planning policy, please get in touch.