The purpose of planning is to help achieve sustainable development.

Sustainable means ensuring that better lives for ourselves don’t mean worse lives for future generations.

Development means growth. We must accommodate the new ways by which we will earn our living in a competitive world. We must house a rising population, which is living longer and wants to make new choices. We must respond to the changes that new technologies offer us. Our lives, and the places in which we live them, can be better, but they will certainly be worse if things stagnate.

Sustainable development is about change for the better, and not only in our built environment.

Our natural environment is essential to our wellbeing, and it can be better looked after than it has been. Habitats that have been degraded can be restored. Species that have been isolated can be reconnected. Green Belt land that has been depleted of diversity can be refilled by nature – and opened to people to experience it, to the benefit of body and soul.

Our historic environment – buildings, landscapes, towns and villages – can better be cherished if their spirit of place thrives, rather than withers.

Our standards of design can be so much higher. We are a nation renowned worldwide for creative excellence, yet, at home, confidence in development itself has been eroded by the too frequent experience of mediocrity.

So sustainable development is about positive growth – making economic, environmental and social progress for this and future generations.

The planning system is about helping to make this happen.

Development that is sustainable should go ahead, without delay – a presumption in favour of sustainable development that is the basis for every plan, and every decision. This framework sets out clearly what could make a proposed plan or development unsustainable.

In order to fulfil its purpose of helping achieve sustainable development, planning must not simply be about scrutiny. Planning must be a creative exercise in finding ways to enhance and improve the places in which we live our lives.

This should be a collective enterprise. Yet, in recent years, planning has tended to exclude, rather than to include, people and communities. In part, this has been a result of targets being imposed, and decisions taken, by bodies remote from them.  Dismantling the unaccountable regional apparatus and introducing neighbourhood planning addresses this.

In part, people have been put off from getting involved because planning policy itself has become so elaborate and forbidding – the preserve of specialists, rather than people in communities.

This National Planning Policy Framework changes that. By replacing over a thousand pages of national policy with around fifty, written simply and clearly, we are allowing people and communities back into planning.

Rt Hon Greg Clark MP  – Minister for Planning

1.  The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied. It sets out the Government’s requirements for the planning system only to the extent that it is relevant, proportionate and necessary to do so. It provides a framework within which local people and their accountable councils can produce their own distinctive local and neighbourhood plans, which reflect the needs and priorities of their communities. – we should be part of this process, defining our community and priorities

6.  The purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. The policies in paragraphs 18 to 219, taken as a whole, constitute the Government’s view of what sustainable development in England means in practice for the planning system. – clock the words “sustainable development”

7.  There are three dimensions to sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. These dimensions give rise to the need for the planning system to perform a number of roles:

an economic role – contributing to building a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth and innovation; and by identifying and coordinating development requirements, including the provision of infrastructure;

a social role – supporting strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by providing the supply of housing required to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by creating a high quality built environment, with accessible local services that reflect the community’s needs and support its health, social and cultural well-being; and

an environmental role – contributing to protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment; and, as part of this, helping to improve biodiversity, use natural resources prudently, minimise waste and pollution, and mitigate and adapt to climate change including moving to a low carbon economy

I’m not sure that I have seen these dimensions taken into consideration

8.  These roles should not be undertaken in isolation, because they are mutually dependent. Economic growth can secure higher social and environmental standards, and well-designed buildings and places can improve the lives of people and communities. Therefore, to achieve sustainable development, economic, social and environmental gains should be sought jointly and simultaneously through the planning system. The planning system should play an active role in guiding development to sustainable solutions.

9.  Pursuing sustainable development involves seeking positive improvements in the quality of the built, natural and historic environment, as well as in people’s quality of life, including (but not limited to):

• making it easier for jobs to be created in cities, towns and villages; <- FAIL ?
• moving from a net loss of bio-diversity to achieving net gains for nature; <- FAIL ?
• replacing poor design with better design; <- FAIL , who designed our environment?
• improving the conditions in which people live, work, travel and take leisure; and<- FAIL ?
• widening the choice of high quality homes.  <- N/A ?

13.  The National Planning Policy Framework constitutes guidance for local planning authorities and decision-takers both in drawing up plans and as a material consideration in determining applications

14.  At the heart of the National Planning Policy Framework is a presumption in favour of sustainable development, which should be seen as a golden thread running through both plan-making and decision-taking.

For plan-making this means that:

• local planning authorities should positively seek opportunities to meet the development needs of their area;
• Local Plans should meet objectively assessed needs, with sufficient flexibility to adapt to rapid change, unless:

– any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this Framework taken as a whole; or

–  specific policies in this Framework indicate development should be restricted.

For decision-taking this means:

• approving development proposals that accord with the development plan without delay; and
• where the development plan is absent, silent or relevant policies are out-of-date, granting permission unless:

– any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this Framework taken as a whole; or

– specific policies in this Framework indicate development should be restricted  <- eg Greenbelt

79.  The Government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping  land permanently  open;  the essential characteristics  of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence.

• to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
• to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
• to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
• to preserve the setting and special character  of historic towns; and
• to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.  <- This one I can’t see counts with us?

81.  Once Green Belts have been defined,  local planning authorities  should plan positively to enhance the beneficial use of the Green Belt, such as looking for opportunities to provide access; to provide opportunities for outdoor sport and recreation;  to retain and enhance landscapes,  visual amenity and biodiversity; or to improve damaged and derelict land.

82. The general extent of Green Belts across the country is already established.

New Green Belts should only be established  in exceptional circumstances,  for example when planning for larger scale development such as new settlements or major urban extensions.  If proposing  a new Green Belt, local planning authorities should:

• demonstrate why normal planning and development management policies would not be adequate;

• set out whether any major changes  in circumstances  have made the adoption of this exceptional measure  necessary;

• show what the consequences of the proposal would be for sustainable development;

• demonstrate the necessity for the Green Belt and its consistency with Local Plans for adjoining areas; and

• show how the Green Belt would meet the other objectives of the Framework.

83.  Local planning authorities with Green Belts in their area should establish Green Belt boundaries in their Local Plans which set the framework  for Green Belt and settlement policy. Once established,  Green Belt boundaries should only be altered in exceptional circumstances,  through the preparation or review of the Local Plan. At that  time, authorities  should consider the Green Belt boundaries having regard to their intended permanence in the long term, so that  they should be capable of enduring  beyond the plan period.

84.  When drawing up or reviewing Green Belt boundaries local planning authorities should take account  of the need to promote sustainable  patterns of development. They should consider the consequences for sustainable development of channelling development towards  urban areas inside the Green Belt boundary,  towards  towns and villages inset within the Green Belt or towards  locations beyond the outer Green Belt boundary.

86.  If it is necessary to prevent development in a village primarily because  of the important contribution  which the open character  of the village makes to the openness of the Green Belt, the village should be included in the Green Belt. If, however,  the character  of the village needs to be protected for other reasons,  other means should be used, such as conservation  area or normal development management policies, and the village should be excluded from the Green Belt.  –  Hedsor Road and where the Hamlet of Bourne End was established is a conservation area

87.  As with previous Green Belt policy, inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances.

88.  When considering any planning application, local planning authorities  should ensure that  substantial  weight is given to any harm to the Green Belt. ‘Very special circumstances’ will not exist unless the potential  harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations.

112.  Local planning authorities should take into account  the economic and other benefits  of the best and most versatile agricultural land. Where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, local planning authorities  should seek to use areas of poorer quality land in preference to that  of a higher quality.

126.  Local planning authorities should set out in their Local Plan a positive strategy for the conservation  and enjoyment  of the historic environment,  including heritage  assets most at risk through neglect,  decay or other threats.  In doing so, they should recognise that  heritage  assets are an irreplaceable resource and conserve them in a manner  appropriate to their significance. In developing this strategy,  local planning authorities  should take into account:

• the desirability of sustaining and enhancing the significance of heritage assets and putting  them to viable uses consistent  with their conservation;
• the wider social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits  that conservation  of the historic environment can bring;
• the desirability of new development making a positive contribution  to local character  and distinctiveness; and
• opportunities to draw on the contribution  made by the historic environment to the character  of a place.

155. Early and meaningful  engagement and collaboration  with neighbourhoods, local organisations and businesses is essential. A wide section of the community should be proactively engaged, so that  Local Plans, as far as possible, reflect a collective vision and a set of agreed  priorities for the sustainable  development of the area, including those contained in any neighbourhood plans that  have been made.

169.  Local planning authorities should have up-to-date evidence about  the historic environment in their area and use it to assess the significance of heritage assets and the contribution  they make to their environment. They should also use it to predict the likelihood that  currently unidentified  heritage  assets, particularly sites of historic and archaeological  interest,  will be discovered in the future.  Local planning authorities  should either maintain or have access to a historic environment record.

– I suspect this could be the case for Hollands farm, or areas within it?  any archaeologists out there….

193.  Local planning authorities should publish a list of their information requirements for applications,  which should be proportionate to the nature and scale of development proposals and reviewed on a frequent basis. Local planning authorities  should only request  supporting  information  that  is relevant, necessary and material to the application  in question.