Colliers comments on framework

Colliers International believes the government’s new National Planning Policy Framework next month will shift the balance in favour of granting permission. Adam Pyrke, director of planning, does not think this will always be enough to persuade councils to give consent when the development industry thinks they should.

He said there was too much room to argue whether a proposal was “sustainable” or whether a plan was out of date. His comments came after ministers signalled their intention to promote development as a means of generating wealth to battle the national budget deficit.

Pyrke said the new presumption was more restricted in its application then under the last Conservative administration and only applied to ‘sustainable’ development. “There is obviously quite a lot of flexibility into what this means and how it is applied in practice.”

He said the presumption should mean that local plans should be positively phrased to meet development needs and that any proposals in accordance with those plans should be approved without delay. Furthermore, he said that permission should be granted when the plan is silent, indeterminate or out of date.