In January the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government launched a consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework and National Model Design Code. This has now closed and Government is analysing the feedback.

One of the more alarming proposalswas for changes to the criteria that allow local planning authorities to issue Article 4 Directions (of the kind that GBC has issued for example with regard to Wanborough Fields). Under the proposals these would become so restrictive as to make it highly unlikely they would ever be possible in future. For example, where they related to a change of use to residential, they should “be limited to situations where this is essential to avoid wholly unacceptable adverse impacts...or as an alternative to the above, be limited to situations where this is necessary in order to protect an interest of national significance”. We hope that the finalised document will contain rather less sweeping criteria.