A long awaited Select Committee report into the Government’s much-maligned draft National Planning Policy Framework was released at midnight last night and it does not make for comfortable reading for DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) ministers.
Compressing thousands of pages of planning policy statements into a single concise document was never going to be simple, particularly whilst simultaneously promoting economic growth and so-called “Localism”. The result has been criticised as being too vague and likely to skew the system too far towards economic growth.
So it looks like a significant rewrite for the Government to tone down the pro-development emphasis and the rest of us stuck with the current guidance until well into 2012.