What is Planning Practice Guidance? The PPG explained

 

Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) is the Government’s detailed online guidance for the planning system in England. It supports the National Planning Policy Framework and provides practical guidance on subjects ranging from housing need and five year land supply to flood risk, viability, Green Belt, heritage and plan-making.

The PPG is not legislation and it is not the NPPF itself. This page explains its status, how to use it, and an important August 2026 issue: some guidance topics have not yet been updated to reflect the completely revised NPPF published on 17 August 2026.

 

The NPPF and PPG do different jobs

 

The NPPF sets out national planning policy. The PPG provides supporting guidance on how many parts of the planning system should be understood and applied in practice.

That distinction matters. The PPG should not be treated as if it has exactly the same status as an NPPF policy, and it cannot override legislation or change the meaning of a clear national policy. But it can be a material consideration and can be highly influential where it explains the evidence, calculations or methodology that a decision-maker should use.

 

The PPG lives online and changes topic by topic

 

There is no single current PPG book. The Government publishes a collection of online guidance topics, each of which can be revised independently.

That makes the revision date important. A guidance page updated yesterday may sit alongside another topic last revised several years ago. When relying on a particular paragraph, check its revision date and its reference ID rather than assuming the whole PPG was updated at the same time.

For a current application or appeal, the latest guidance will usually be the sensible starting point, but the date can matter where the policy or guidance changed during the life of a case.

 

An important August 2026 warning: some guidance still reflects the old NPPF

 

The August 2026 NPPF was a fundamental rewrite. The associated PPG has not all been rewritten overnight.

For example, as at 27 August 2026, the Government’s Housing Supply and Delivery guidance is still dated 12 December 2024. It still refers to old NPPF paragraph numbers and says that failure to demonstrate a five year housing land supply triggers paragraph 11(d), even though the August 2026 Framework has replaced that machinery with the new S3–S6 structure.

At the same date, the main PPG collection page was also still describing the December 2024 NPPF as the most recent Framework. That reinforces the need to check the date and context of the particular guidance rather than assuming the collection page has already caught up.

The same topic also contains the former wording around older housing requirements which had been reviewed and found not to need updating. Our updated five year housing land supply guide explains the current Annex D position.

This does not make the whole PPG useless. It means it has to be read intelligently: where older guidance and the newer August 2026 NPPF cannot sensibly be reconciled, start with the current national policy and check whether the PPG passage is awaiting revision.

 

What subjects does the PPG cover?

 

The Government’s PPG collection covers a very wide range of planning topics. Examples include:

• housing and economic needs assessment
• housing and economic land availability
• housing supply and delivery
• plan-making
• Green Belt
• flood risk and coastal change
• viability
• historic environment
• environmental impact assessment
• planning obligations
• appeals and decision-making procedures; and
• many specialist development and environmental topics

You can browse the full Planning Practice Guidance collection on GOV.UK.

 

Is Planning Practice Guidance legally binding?

 

No. PPG is Government guidance, not an Act, statutory instrument or development plan policy. A decision-maker must understand the statutory framework and relevant policy correctly and then decide what weight the guidance deserves in the circumstances.

That does not mean the PPG can simply be ignored. Where it addresses the precise technical question in dispute, it can be a highly material consideration. But the strength of a PPG passage depends on the subject, the wording, the evidence and whether it remains consistent with the current law and national policy.

 

 

Can withdrawn guidance still matter?

 

Yes, sometimes. Withdrawal means a document is no longer current Government policy or guidance, but it does not automatically make every useful technical or good-practice passage legally irrelevant.

R (Rickards) v East Hertfordshire District Council [2025] EWHC 2278 (Admin) is a good example. The case concerned agricultural prior approval for polytunnels. The court held that the former PPG7 Annex E, although withdrawn years earlier, could still provide useful good-practice guidance on siting and design because the relevant planning policy and permitted development regime had not changed in a way that made that advice inconsistent or obsolete.

That does not mean a withdrawn document keeps the status it once had, or that old guidance can override current legislation, the current NPPF or current PPG. The sensible question is whether the particular passage still contains relevant technical or practical guidance that remains consistent with the current legal and policy framework. If it does, a decision-maker may still find it useful.

 

How the PPG can affect a planning application

 

 

Many straightforward householder applications can be decided without anybody needing to quote PPG paragraph numbers. On more technical cases, however, the guidance can become central.

A dispute about housing land supply, local housing need, viability, flood risk, heritage significance or evidence of deliverability may depend heavily on methodology set out in the PPG. The same applies at appeal, where competing parties can disagree not just about the evidence but about whether the relevant guidance has been correctly applied.

There is no fee for reading or citing the PPG. Any application fee depends on the planning route being used, so check our planning fees page. Professional advice and any technical evidence needed to apply the guidance may involve separate costs.

 

PPG and local plans

 

The Government has also published guidance collections for authorities preparing plans under the new and legacy local plan systems. As the 2026 plan-making reforms settle in, some guidance will inevitably be revised or reorganised.

This is one reason Planning Geek now monitors official planning-guidance updates: a change to PPG can require a page to be revisited even when the legislation and NPPF themselves have not changed.

 

England only

 

The Planning Practice Guidance discussed here is for the English planning system. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own national policy and guidance arrangements.

 

If your application is refused

 

If a refusal turns on national policy or guidance, that issue can be reconsidered on appeal along with the development plan and the evidence. See our planning appeals section for the different routes and deadlines.

 

Useful official links

 

• Planning Practice Guidance collection – the Government’s current guidance topics
• National Planning Policy Framework – national planning policy
• Section 70(2), Town and Country Planning Act 1990 – matters relevant to determining applications
• Section 38, Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 – the development-plan starting point

Other Planning Policy Sections

 

Planning Practice Guidance Page Updated: 27th August 2026