In December 2010 Greg Clark MP announced the Government's intention to consolidate national planning policy in England into a "simpler" policy framework. The draft NPPF, published on 25 July 2011, places a presumption in favour of sustainable development at the heart of the English planning system whilst acknowledging the need to balance economic, social and environmental goals to achieve this aim. It will replace all policy statements, circulars and guidance. The draft is currently in a consultation phase which will close on 17 October 2011. The Government have stated their desire to publish the final document by the end of the year.

The NPPF encapsulates the meaning of sustainable development in three components: planning for prosperity; planning for people; and planning for places and suggests that the default response by local authorities to development proposals should be "yes". This has sparked outrage from environmental groups with the Daily Telegraph running a particularly vociferous campaign against the proposal, causing the Prime Minister to wade in to the debate. Current indications are that the Government are considering postponing the presumption for a period of 18 months to allow time for local authorities to adopt local plans.

Whilst the general principle of a presumption in favour of sustainable development will be supported by the energy industry, there remains a concern about how the NPPF will interact with local policy and decision making. Commercial scale renewable energy development is rarely well supported at a local level and as a result it has been suggested that further support should be given to the energy industry by the NPPF.

Chief among the industry's concerns is the proposed introduction of a spatial approach to the siting of renewable projects in local plans which could see sites allocated for renewable development. Such an approach in Wales has been unsuccessful in delivering the necessary volume of development to hit targets. Secondly, the NPPF does little to address the policy disconnect between the need to deliver 30% of electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 2020 to satisfy EU obligations following the abolition of regional targets proposed by the Localism Bill. It seems as though developers will need to rely on the "duty to co-operate" which the Bill introduces to provide a strategic element to planning for renewables. Many are concerned that it will not do so.

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