Eddie Millar is the RTPI's Policy Advisor

This blog is part of a series of blog and news features on the NPPF. You can see related content below the blog.

The new draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is so extensive, it can be difficult to know where to turn your attention first. At the RTPI, we have attempted to help our members get their heads around the changes through this series of blogs accompanying our consultation response.

Given that the government decided to publish a new draft Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) to function in tandem with the design section of the draft NPPF, it makes sense for us to run through what’s new for design and where design sits within the wider plan making changes. Chapter 14 of the draft NPPF explicitly references the PPG, and they are intended to be read together.

Firstly, it’s worth signposting our response to the short consultation the government issued on the draft PPG. The consultation is focused mostly on the function of the document, and you can read our response here.

The new draft PPG consolidates previously separate design documents – the National Design Guide, Design: process and tools PPG, and National Model Design Code parts 1 and 2 – in a format which should prove more straightforward to use for planners and designers. The PPG is packed full of material, intended as a ‘one stop-shop’ for design, setting out a revised set of design principles and giving instruction to practitioners on how they can embed these principles throughout the planning process and within design tools like master plans and design codes.

The government’s intention to publish the PPG at the same time as the NPPF is sensible, and we think there is an opportunity to do the same with the Manual for Streets (MfS).  Both the NPPF and the PPG documents refer to the MfS, a street design handbook originally dating back to 2007 that is currently receiving a much-needed facelift. To ensure that all these new design policies and guides can come into effect together, the government should look to publish this revised Manual for Streets together with the NPPF and PPG.

So, what are the key take aways? The thrust of the NPPF design chapter remains the same – underlining the importance of good design, explaining what design tools planning authorities should utilise – but the wording is more succinct than the current text, allowing the PPG to provide the detail. The overarching design principles are slightly revised from 2019’s National Design Guide, with new principles ‘climate’ and ‘liveability’ reflecting a greater emphasis on climate adaptation and nature-based design solutions.

Those of you who have scoured the draft NPPF yourselves will note that “development proposals that are not well designed should be refused” remains. For a policy framework that, in many sections, looks to strengthen the presumption in favour of development, the retention of this strong wording reflects a welcome and continued commitment to taking design seriously.

The NPPF and PPG emphasise the importance of design tools, and the focus on digital engagement methods is especially promising. Innovative approaches can facilitate community input and help planning authorities develop design codes quickly.

At the same time, there will be questions over whether planning teams have the necessary skills and resources to make the best use of these design codes and masterplans. The latest LPA capacity and capability survey from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, published in December 2025, shows that local authority skills gaps in masterplanning and design codes remain significant, even if the scale of these gaps have reduced since the survey’s last edition in 2023.

Overall, the design changes in the draft PPG and NPPF are positive and the focus on embedding high-quality design earlier in the process through design visions, master plans and codes is particularly welcome. Ultimately, with so much policy change, we will need to wait and see how this new design approach works in delivery alongside new local plans, national decision-making policies, and local government reform.