Planning for nature

This report provides an analysis of the proposed changes to England’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) alongside the existing Land Use Framework (LUF), and identifies mis-alignments and ways to resolve them. We argue that better policy alignment will have postive outcomes for a range of policy priorities including housing, infrastructure, climate, nature, food and water.

This report includes detailed analysis and recommendations, and a summary providing an overview of our recommendations is also available.

Our main recommendations are

1. Restore the balance between economic, environmental and social goals, to achieve the aim of sustainable development.  
2. Adjust the method for calculating local housing need to avoid unachievable local targets that trigger a presumption in favour of speculative development.  
3. Strengthen nature protection to meet statutory biodiversity targets to halt and reverse species loss and protect 30% of land for nature conservation by 2030.  
4. Restore mechanisms to enable meaningful local democratic input and accountability in plan making and planning decisions.