Half of London boroughs think the NPPF has had no beneficial effects, survey shows

The survey (7-page / 2.57MB PDF), which was published by Sitematch London on Friday, found that only nine of the 34 participants thought the NPPF had had a beneficial effect.

The reasons given by the 18 participants who said that the NPPF has had no beneficial effects included that the policy's language was imprecise and leads to uncertainty among planning authorities in the development management process.

Participants noted that, within London, the importance of the NPPF could be seen to be reduced by the existence of the London Plan, which covers much of the same ground as the NPPF.

Eighteen participants said that they were not sure what the effect of the NPPF's presumption in favour of development would be. They said that the policy's unclear language would mean that its influence would depend "largely on the interpretation by the various authorities".

"The NPPF has brought simplification through a condensing of the quantum of planning guidance, although the document can be interpreted in different ways by different people in different places. This doesn't necessarily make the process of planning simpler," said Hounslow Council's assistant director of strategic planning, regeneration and economic development Heather Cheesbrough in a statement.

Cheesbrough said that the effect of the introduction of the NPPF "pales into insignificance" against the introduction of permitted development rights on certain types of development, such as extensions which she said "completely undermine the ability of a planning authority to positively plan and regenerate places".

The survey also asked participants about perceived benefits of the Localism Act's introduction of neighbourhood planning powers, to which 24 responded that they did not see a benefit. Reasons included that neighbourhood planning could create false expectations within local communities.

"Communities who are interested in neighbourhood planning tend to assume that becoming a neighbourhood forum will grant them the power to stop unwanted development in their community, but this is not true," the survey said. "Rather the opposite is the case: neighbourhood planning allows communities to determine desired development types," it said.

Cheesbrough added that "planning professionals see neighbourhood plans at best as unnecessary with the potential to create disillusionment amongst communities on misdirected plan making initiatives, instead of encouraging widespread and focused community involvement".