The deadline for consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is looming, the proposals discussed at length and dissected by the industry. However, it seems there is one point that has been missed.

Although the headlines have so far focused on delivering housing, the proposals cover a whole range of policy areas - unfortunately, taken together, the unavoidable conclusion is that they’ll be bad for the North.

One of the critical challenges for the North is delivering the economic growth that is needed to close the gap in GVA with the South East and London. In its current form, the new NPPF could frustrate that objective.

The ‘Standard Method’ for housing need

First to consider is the less than favourable impact of the introduction of the standard method for calculating housing targets.

Currently councils use an array of methods to calculate housing targets, which produce dramatically different results. The uncertainty means that housing targets are a key area of disagreement between developers, councils and communities in the local plan process, dragging it out and diverting attention from other matters.

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