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Organisations from across the built environment have welcomed the government鈥檚 final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

The confirmed NPPF included a range of changes which were included in the summer鈥檚 draft version, including the return of mandatory targets and a new method to calculate them, which has resulted in a 370,000-home national target.

But the government did make some changes after a months-long consultation, including amending its 50% affordable housing requirement for building on the newly defined 鈥済rey belt鈥�, which comprises lower quality green belt land.

Developers of grey belt sites will now be expected to deliver 15% more affordable homes than is required in the local housing policy, up to a cap of 50%.

The change reflected consultation demands from industry bodies including the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and Land, Planning and Development Federation, although they had lobbied for a 10% premium.

John Gregory, partner and specialist planning lawyer at national law firm Weightmans, said the government appeared to have 鈥渓istened to concerns that a blanket requirement to provide 50% affordable housing on all of these sites may have made many of them unviable鈥�.

Paul Wakefield, legal planning partner at law firm, Shakespeare Martineau, said the change would 鈥減rovide for the delivery of more affordable housing whilst simultaneously reflecting the variance in viability that applies across the country as part of any housebuilding on the green belt鈥�.

Neil Jefferson, chief executive at the HBF, welcomed the NPPF but said 鈥渇urther policy interventions are needed鈥� to meet the government鈥檚 ambition to build 1.5m homes in this parliament. 

鈥淒emand for new homes is supressed by a lack of affordable mortgage lending and support for first-time buyers in particular is desperately needed,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e also need to release the tens of thousands of unsold affordable homes provided by house builders as part of their planning permissions, that cash-strapped Housing Associations are not able to currently acquire.鈥�

>> Read more: Angela Rayner: a secretary of state on a mission, but has she won over the construction industry?

>> Read more: NPPF: Government drops 50% affordable housing requirement for grey belt sites

Jefferson said additional planning capacity and a solution to the nutrient neutrality issues were also necessary.

Megan Hinch, senior policy and practice lead on planning for Chartered Institute of Housing welcomed the changes but said planning reform alone 鈥渨on鈥檛 solve the housing crisis鈥�, emphasisng the need for 鈥渟ignfiicant investment in the Spending Review鈥�.

This was echoed by others in the social housing sector.

Ian McDermott, chief executive of Peabody, said the NPPF was a 鈥渟tep in the right direction鈥� for housing but that if the government was going to scale up social housing construction, it needed to put together 鈥渁 package of measures to help rebuild stability and financial capacity in councils and housing associations鈥�.

Platform Housing Group鈥檚 group chief executive, Elizabeth Froude, said she was 鈥渉eartened鈥� that dealing with the housing crisis was being prioritised by the government.

鈥淯nfortunately, there has been no mention of setting any increased need for more affordable housing on greenbelt land; this is clearly very disappointing for housing associations as it will prevent increased levels of new affordable homes being built,鈥� she said.

鈥淭here was also no acknowledgement of the need to support the skills agenda in the construction industry; nurturing and developing homegrown skills is an absolutely critical part of our ability to keep on building for the long term.鈥�

鈥淗owever, planning reform alone won鈥檛 solve the housing crisis鈥攚e also need significant investment in the Spending Review to help the sector meet the government鈥檚 1.5 million homes target.鈥�

Jonathan Parker, development director at Pagabo, raised concerns that viability guidance wasn鈥檛 expected until the spring, creating 鈥渁 clear risk of progress being stunted in the short-term鈥�. 

鈥淓specially with the viability gap tending to be bigger around affordable housing, and new approaches to how its provision will come forward based on more localised needs under the new NPPF, it鈥檚 hard to see how effective appraisals can be run until that guidance is in place, which will likely cause delays in bringing sites forward,鈥� he said.

Sarah Hamilton-Foyn, executive director of planning at Pegasus Group, said: 鈥淲e should be concerned that a number of local plans have been brought forward at pace this year to avoid the need to align with the higher housing targets laid bare today. The softening of the transition arrangements, allowing for an extra two months, will not help this issue either and will enable more local authorities to pursue their plans based on the current Standard Method.鈥�

Iain Painting, planning director at Stantec, said that for changes to have real impact there would need to be 鈥渆ffective and up-to-date local plans which provide sufficiently detailed allocations for commercial and infrastructure needs as well as housing鈥�, as well as 鈥渨ell-resourced planning departments able to cope with the likely influx of applications鈥�

RIBA president, Muyiwa Oki, said the revisions to the NPPF 鈥渙ffer a promising path forward鈥�, while urging a 鈥済reater involvement of architects and greater resource for local planning authorities鈥�.

鈥淢ost importantly, this cannot become a solely numbers-driven exercise. In our cities, towns and countryside people deserve high-quality, well-designed homes that meet their needs and stand the test of time,鈥� he said.