What is the NPPF? The National Planning Policy Framework explained

 

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the Government’s policies for plan-making and for making decisions on development proposals in England. The Framework itself describes the NPPF as a material consideration of critical importance in both contexts.

It is not an Act of Parliament or a set of planning regulations. It operates within England’s statutory, plan-led planning system. The current Framework was published on 17 August 2026, replacing the December 2024 version and introducing a new structure of separate plan-making policies and national decision-making policies.

This page explains where the NPPF sits in the planning system, how it interacts with the development plan, and what the August 2026 structure means in practice.

 

What the NPPF is for

 

The NPPF brings most national planning policy for England together in one Framework. It covers housing, business and economic growth, Green Belt, transport, design, climate change, flooding, biodiversity, heritage significance and harm, minerals and many other subjects that affect development. The August 2026 Framework also incorporates the national policy for Gypsy and Traveller sites, which was previously contained in a separate policy document.

It has two broad jobs:

• it provides plan-making policy for authorities preparing development plans; and
• it provides national decision-making policy for development proposals, planning applications and appeals

The August 2026 Framework makes that distinction explicit throughout the document.

Not every national planning policy sits inside the NPPF. The National Planning Policy for Waste remains a separate document, and relevant Written Ministerial Statements can also contain national planning policy. Annex A identifies a number of earlier statements and policy documents whose planning content has been incorporated into the Framework or no longer represents current Government policy.

 

How can the NPPF help a planning application?

 

The NPPF is most useful when it is turned into a site-specific planning argument rather than quoted as background policy. A few common examples show how that works.

• Adding homes above shops or commercial buildings: national policy supports making better use of under-used land and buildings, including airspace above existing premises. This can help justify upward extensions and mixed-use intensification where the design, access and relationship with neighbours are acceptable
• Housing outside a settlement: the policy route can depend on whether the proposal falls within S5, including whether there is evidenced unmet housing need. A poor Housing Delivery Test result or a housing land supply shortfall can therefore materially change the national-policy position
• An old Local Plan policy conflicts with current national policy: Annex A can require very limited weight to a development plan policy, or part of it, which is materially inconsistent with a current national decision-making policy, subject to the Framework's exception for plans examined and adopted against the August 2026 NPPF
• Grey-belt housing: national policy can make housing need highly relevant, but the other Green Belt tests still have to be met. A favourable housing-need position is not permission by itself
• A strong principle but a weak scheme: national policy support does not cure serious design, highway, flood-risk, heritage or amenity harm. The planning opportunity should inform the design from the start rather than being used as an after-the-event justification

For the detailed decision-making tests, see our guide to the presumption in favour of sustainable development. The worked examples there show how S4 and S5 can produce very different outcomes for otherwise similar sites.

 

Policy is not the same as planning law

 

The NPPF is policy, not legislation. It does not itself decide whether something amounts to development, grant planning permission or create permitted development rights. Those questions come from legislation such as the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the General Permitted Development Order and other planning statutes and regulations.

National policy operates within that statutory system. It guides the planning judgments that have to be made when plans are prepared and development proposals are assessed, but it does not displace statutory duties.

So it is not accurate to say that the NPPF “sits above” planning law. Legislation provides the legal framework; the NPPF provides national planning policy within that framework.

 

The development plan remains the statutory starting point

 

For an ordinary planning decision, the starting point is the development plan. Section 38 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires decisions to be made in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

The national decision-making policies in the NPPF are material considerations and should be read alongside the development plan. The Framework can therefore be highly influential where a local policy is silent, where circumstances have changed, or where there is tension between local and national policy.

Our guide to the development plan explains its statutory role and which documents form part of it; the separate local plans guide covers the council plan and the new 2026 plan-making system in more detail.

 

Annex A changed how conflicts with older local policies are handled

 

This is one of the most important immediate consequences of the August 2026 Framework.

Annex A says that an existing development plan policy, or part of a policy, which is materially inconsistent with a national decision-making policy should be given very limited weight.

There is a specific exception: that very-limited-weight rule does not apply where the relevant policy has been examined and adopted, or a neighbourhood plan made, against the August 2026 Framework. Other development plan policies should not be given reduced weight simply because they were adopted before the new Framework was published.

This makes the actual policy comparison crucial. On a live application or appeal, the question is not merely how old the local policy is. Ask whether the local development plan policy and the relevant national decision-making policy are materially inconsistent, and whether the Annex A exception applies.

 

Plan-making policies and decision-making policies are different

 

The 2026 NPPF is no longer simply a long sequence of numbered paragraphs. It is organised into policy codes.

PM policies deal with general plan-making procedure. DM policies deal with general decision-making procedure. The thematic chapters then contain further plan-making and national decision-making policies under subject codes such as HO for housing, GB for Green Belt and TR for transport.

This distinction matters. The Framework expressly says that plan-making policies should not be used when making decisions on development proposals. For an application or appeal, identify the national decision-making policies which actually apply rather than treating a neighbouring plan-making policy as an additional decision test.

The annexes are also national planning policy. That is important because Annex A contains implementation rules, Annex B the glossary, Annex C information requirements, including DM1’s planning statement for major development, Annex D housing calculations and supply, Annex E Green Belt assessments and Annex F flood-risk material.

The short objectives in boxes at the start of chapters are different. They provide context only and should not be applied as either plan-making or decision-making policy.

 

Planning Practice Guidance has a supporting role

 

The Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) supports the implementation of national planning policy. The August 2026 NPPF expressly describes its role as important but supporting to national planning policy.

That distinction can matter when guidance has not yet caught up with a newly published Framework. The NPPF is the national policy; the PPG helps explain and implement it. Immediately after publication of the August 2026 Framework, some PPG topics still referred to the previous NPPF, so dates and context need to be checked carefully.

 

The presumption in favour of sustainable development

 

The presumption in favour of sustainable development remains central, but the August 2026 Framework rebuilt it.

Policy S3 sets the overarching presumption. S4 gives strong support to development within settlements. S5 deals with development outside settlements, identifying specified types and circumstances that are acceptable in principle while retaining a separate exceptional-circumstances route. One potentially important S5 route is the redevelopment of previously developed land (brownfield land) under S5(1)(d), including residential redevelopment. Another is residential and mixed-use development within reasonable walking distance of a qualifying well-connected station under S5(1)(h). S6 provides particular protection for qualifying recent neighbourhood plans.

This replaced the old paragraph 11(d) tilted balance. A shortage of housing land and poor housing delivery can still be powerful, but they now operate through the new policy structure – for example as evidence of unmet housing need under S5 – rather than switching on the old paragraph 11 test.

 

What counts as a settlement now matters nationally

 

The August 2026 Framework introduced a national glossary definition of a settlement. It is not confined to a town or village with a mapped line around it. Settlements can be identified by boundaries or by criteria, and the definition can include allocated or permitted land that will become part of the built-up area.

This matters because S4 and S5 use the distinction between development within and outside settlements. See our updated guide to settlement boundaries, and if you are looking at an infill plot or land on the edge of a town or village, our guide to building outside a settlement boundary.

 

The NPPF and housing land supply

 

Housing is one of the areas where the Framework has the greatest day-to-day impact. Annex D now contains the standard method for calculating local housing need as well as the current rules for the five year housing land supply, including the baseline housing figure, deliverability and the 5% or 20% buffer.

The Housing Delivery Test looks backwards at actual delivery. Failure to demonstrate the required five year supply, or HDT performance below 75%, can amount to evidenced unmet housing need for S5. Other HDT thresholds also trigger an action plan and/or a 20% buffer.

 

Does the NPPF change permitted development rights?

 

No. The NPPF does not itself create, remove or alter permitted development rights. Those rights come principally from the General Permitted Development Order.

That does not mean the NPPF is relevant only to a full planning application. It can be material to many different planning decisions – full or outline applications, reserved matters where relevant, section 73 applications, appeals and other decisions – depending on the statutory regime and the issues being decided. Prior approval under the GPDO is different again because the matters the authority may consider are defined by the particular permitted development right.

 

When did the August 2026 NPPF take effect?

 

For decision-making, Annex A is direct: the policies in the August 2026 Framework are material considerations which must be taken into account from the day of publication, 17 August 2026. Applications and appeals being decided after publication therefore need to be considered against the current national decision-making policies even if they were submitted earlier.

Plan-making has separate transition rules:

• local plans, minerals and waste plans and supplementary plans being prepared under the new 2026 plan-making legislation should be produced in accordance with the August 2026 Framework;
• Spatial Development Strategies should be produced in accordance with the August 2026 Framework; in Greater London, see the London Plan
• neighbourhood plans submitted to the local planning authority under Regulation 15 on or before 17 August 2026 should be prepared against the December 2024 Framework, unless withdrawn and updated; neighbourhood plans not yet submitted must comply with the August 2026 Framework; and
• other plans continue against the December 2024 Framework unless the transitional arrangements in that earlier Framework apply

Our local plans guide explains which plan-making system is operating during 2026 and why the NPPF used to decide an application is not necessarily the same version against which an advanced emerging plan is being examined.

 

National decision-making policies are not statutory NDMPs

 

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 created powers for statutory National Development Management Policies. Government decided not to use those powers at this stage. The August 2026 Framework instead contains a non-statutory suite of national decision-making policies.

That distinction is important. The new NPPF policies are material considerations of critical importance and Annex A addresses materially inconsistent development plan policies, but they are not formally designated statutory NDMPs. Section 38(6) therefore remains the familiar statutory starting point.

 

What sits outside the NPPF?

 

The NPPF is central, but it is not the whole of national planning policy. As noted above, national waste policy remains separate, and relevant Written Ministerial Statements may also need to be considered.

The Framework also does not contain the specific policy regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects and National Policy Statements. Those projects are determined under the Planning Act 2008 and relevant National Policy Statements, although the NPPF can still be a relevant material consideration.

 

The NPPF changes over time

 

The Framework can be revised without Parliament passing a new Planning Act. That allows national policy to change relatively quickly, but it also means older appeal decisions, reports and web pages can become misleading if they quote superseded policy wording.

The August 2026 revision replaced the December 2024 Framework and changed both the structure and substance of national policy. Our news article on the revised NPPF 2026 explains the principal changes, while the detailed NPPF 2024 vs 2026 comparison sets the two Frameworks side by side.

For the complete publication history, including links to every historic Framework held in the Planning Geek library, see the NPPF timeline from 2012 to 2026.

 

What does it cost to use the NPPF?

 

There is no separate fee for relying on the NPPF in an application, appeal or planning statement. Any application fee depends on the route being used, so check our planning fees page. Professional advice, reports and technical evidence may involve separate costs.

 

If your application is refused

 

A refusal often turns on how the development plan and national policy have been interpreted and weighted. If you have a right of appeal, the Inspector will decide the appeal against the policy position applicable at the time of the decision. See our planning appeals section for the process and current deadlines.

If you are preparing an application, our planning applications section covers the different application routes, validation, drawings and other practical requirements.

 

Where to read the current NPPF

 

• National Planning Policy Framework – August 2026 – the full Framework hosted on Planning Geek;
• National Planning Policy Framework on GOV.UK – the Government publication page;
• Section 38, Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 – the statutory development plan test;
• Section 70, Town and Country Planning Act 1990 – matters relevant to determining applications

Other Planning Policy Sections

 

NPPF Page Updated: 30th August 2026