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The National Planning Policy Framework

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was first published by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in March 2012. Since this time, there has been several revisions to the NPPF to take account of changing priorities and planning reform. The Labour government completed the latest consultation on reforms to the NPPF in March 2026. The proposed reforms would introduce significant changes to national planning policy in England.

What is the National Planning Policy Framework?

The NPPF sets out the government's national planning policies for England and how these should be applied. It is used by strategic planning authorities to inform plan-making for the development plan (Spatial Development Strategies, Local Plans and Neighbourhood Plans) and decision-making for planning applications. Strategic planning authorities can include local authorities, strategic authorities (such as combined authorities), and development corporations with designated strategic planning powers.

The NPPF is not a statutory document. However, it counts a material consideration in decision-making for planning applications submitted under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) determined under the Planning Act 2008. Planning Aid explains that material considerations are matters or policy that are taken into account in planning decisions.

Policies in the NPPF are also used by strategic authorities to guide decision-making for planning applications where a development plan is out of date or relevant policies are not in place. This approach is set out under the “presumption in favour of sustainable development”.

How is the government changing the framework?

In the written ministerial statement on Planning reform: the next phase (December 2025) Matthew Pennycook, Minister for Housing and Planning, announced the next phase of planning reforms with a “fuller and more definitive overhaul of the NPPF for consultation”. The minister referred to proposals for a “wholly restructured framework” which “represents the most significant reform to national planning policy since the original NPPF was introduced more than a decade ago”.

The government’s proposed reforms in the consultation draft NPPF (December 2025) would introduce national decision-making policies alongside plan-making policies, with a shift in emphasis from discretionary decision-making guided by the NPPF to a rules-based approach. It also revises the “presumption in favour of sustainable development” to be “a permanent presumption in favour of suitably located development” and applies for proposals within and outside of settlements.

A Westminster Hall debate on the impact of the NPPF is scheduled for Thursday 16 July 2026.