NPPF meaning

Thomas v Cheltenham Borough Council [2025] EWCA Civ 259 What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment will interest practitioners dealing with prior approval applications for electronic communication developments, and, more generally, those pursuing public law challenges about material considerations and appeals against High Court decisions. It reviews the Supreme Court's guidance in Friends of the Earth v Secretary of State for Transport [2021] UKSC 52 on three types of information that can amount to a material consideration. These include: information that legislation or policy, either expressly or by necessary implication, obliges the decision-maker to take into account or to ignore; and information that the decision-maker is entitled to consider where, in their own judgement and discretion, they regard it as appropriate. The judgment underlines that, within this third class, a decision-maker may choose not to refer to something others might regard as pertinent; yet, unless it was so plainly relevant that no rational decision-maker could have left it out of account, the omission to have regard...

In this issue: Key developments and horizon scanning Leasing property Environment, energy and buildings Statutory compliance Property development Transferring property Property taxes Property in Scotland Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New Q&As Key developments and horizon scanning Snapshot of key property developments to look out for in 2025 We deliver a concise overview of several significant property developments to watch for in 2025. See News Analysis: Snapshot of key property developments to look out for in 2025. Leasing property Electronic Communications Code and assignment of pre-28 December 2017 licence agreement AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd v ON Tower UK Ltd [2024] UKUT 429 (LC) was an appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (the UT) from a First-tier Tribunal (FTT) decision concerning how the Electronic Communications Code (Code) should be interpreted. The central question was whether an assignee of a Code licence...

In this issue: Leasing property Property development Residential property Key developments and horizon scanning LexTalk®Property: a Lexis®Nexis community Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers Leasing property Code—terms of renewal lease In EE Ltd v AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd [2024] UKUT 216 (LC), the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) fixed the terms of a replacement lease for a telecommunications site under the Electronic Communications Code. The earlier lease had ended and the claimants sought new Code rights from the present landlord. Two issues were in dispute: (1) the conditions allowing the landlord to bring the new lease to an end for redevelopment, and (2) the level of rent or consideration payable. The parties’ valuers advanced divergent figures—£1,000 per annum for the claimants and £2,850 per annum for the respondent. The Tribunal found for the respondent on the break right, permitting termination for redevelopment, including telecoms redevelopment, but only after the fifth...

The policy background In 2012, the first edition of the National Planning Policy Framework (2012 NPPF) took effect in England. It obliged local planning authorities (LPAs), among other things, to plan to meet the full, objectively assessed requirement for both market and affordable homes within their boundaries. They were expected to use their evidence base so the Local Plan met the full, objectively assessed housing need across the housing market area, insofar as this aligned with the Framework’s policies, and to identify key sites critical to delivering the housing strategy over the plan period. This represented a significant change in policy—previously there was no obligation to assess needs objectively with a view to planning to meet them. The purpose of this shift was to boost significantly the supply of housing (para 47 of the 2012 NPPF). For further detail on the treatment of housing needs in the 2012 NPPF, see the archived Practice Note: Objectively assessed need and housing land supply in the 2012 NPPF [Archived]...

Introduction to flood risk The UK carries a legacy of building in places vulnerable to flooding from rivers, surface run-off and groundwater. Ongoing expansion into rural and low-lying districts has resulted in around six million homes and properties being at risk of inundation today. This stems in particular from exposure to riverine, coastal and surface-water sources and supports a policy focus on risk-led spatial planning. Assessing flood risk is essential as property, legal and financial markets grow more sensitive to flood exposure and the rising costs of flood damage over time. Because flood risk management is now central to all new schemes and to property conveyancing, a variety of products and assessments are widely available in the market place offering differing scope and depth—see Practice Notes: Flood insurance and Flooding—flood searches. History of planning policy on flood risk Planning Policy Guidance 25: Development and Flood Risk (PPG 25), issued in 2001 and now withdrawn, represented the first significant statutory guidance on development and flood risk. The guidance...

Types of land contamination liabilities There are several liability types linked to contaminated land, summarised as follows: Regulatory action: planning regime; contaminated land regime; environmental damage regulations; water pollution legislation; environmental permitting regime Third party liabilities: private nuisance claims for off-site migration; public nuisance claims; personal injury claims; claims relating to negligent advice; misrepresentation; insurance disputes Contractual liabilities: indemnities in sale contracts; indemnities in corporate and sale and purchase agreements; remediation agreements Other liabilities: landlord and tenant obligations; clean-up, investigation and monitoring costs; loss of property value; delay or aborted transactions; accounting provisions; negative publicity Planning regime In most cases, contamination is addressed voluntarily when land is developed or redeveloped via the planning system. The National Planning Policy Framework sets the planning policy for managing contamination risks. Question Who is liable? Answer The developer is responsible for making sure a development is safe and that the site is suitable for its use (NPPF, paras 196–198)....