Taylor Review of Planning Practice Guidance

An independent practitioners group, led by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor have reviewed all 7,000 pages of guidance which support the implementation of national planning policy. The aim was to enable the production of an accessible and more effective set of practice guidance, dramatically reducing the amount of existing guidance and ensuring that new guidance supports effective planning. The group reported with a number of recommendations in December 2012.

Key recommendations

• Practice guidance must be clear, coherent and free to all. It should be hosted on a single website, which is actively managed to keep it current. It should exclude best practice exemplar advice.
• PINS guidance should be incorporated into the new single coherent guidance resource, and the Inspectorate should be involved as a formal advisor on the maintenance of the guidance.
• Material only constitutes formal Government planning practice guidance once it is admitted to the site.
• In addition the website should signpost organisations providing best practice guidance and other adivce. However, it will not endorse specific documents.
• The existing guidance is unfit for purpose. It should be cancelled, revised or edited to include only the relevant parts. The majority of this work should be completed by July 2013.
• There should be a formal Government consultation on our recommendations. Work on immediate cancellations, preparation of the website and most urgent updating should all be completed by 28 March 2013, the first anniversary of the publication of the NPPF.
• A list of 103 existing document are recommended for cancellation, with a further 28 existing documents recommended for cancellation, but with any relevant material incorporated into revised guidance as soon as practical, aiming for 28 March 2013.
• Other existing guidance that is critical to the effective working of the planning system and needs to be retained until it is replaced by revised guidance. This will at least need to be edited into a suitable format for the web resource and reflect the new NPPF.
• Priorities for new and updated guidance are given, including Duty to Co-operate, viability, Strategic Housing Market Assessment, flooding, sustainability appraisal and climate change.

The RTPI issued a press release 'welcoming the concept of a Chief Planner as gatekeeper to a single fit-for-purpose guidance portal'.

CLG Consultation 

The Government have consulted on the report. The RTPI responded.

We identified our key issues as:

1. We strongly maintain that a distinction needs to be made between Government planning guidance (which should be followed) on the one hand, and what is best practice (which it might be good to follow) on the other.

2. Government planning guidance is needed in a limited number of areas to avoid reinventing the wheel on matters of methodology at each local plan examination and in each planning decision.

3. The current priorities for Government Planning Guidance should be:

• Strategic Housing Market Assessment
• Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment
• Duty to Cooperate
• Viability of plans and of sites
• Flooding

as these are the issues which are currently most closely affecting  the ability of the planning system to deliver the homes and jobs the country needs in the right places.

Select Committee 

The deadline for written submissions to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee on the review of planning practice guidance was 18 January. The RTPI responded to the Committee and we will publish our evidence here once the Committee has made all evidence public.

We are continuing to work collaboratively with a wide range of partner organisations on the issue of future planning guidance. Our discussion paper 'Producing guidance through a sector wide approach' sets out our position.

For more information please email practice@rtpi.org.uk