This page provides straightforward explanations how some aspects of the Planning System are working now. It includes informal advice for local councils and residents to help with understanding of how Planning works.
Housing target
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires us to have enough sites to meet housebuilding targets for at least five years. Land must be suitable, available and deliverable for housing development. Sites need to have planning permission and be likely to be built within five years. This is known as the Five Year Housing Land Supply. It also involves reviewing the previous 3 years (delivery), known as the Housing Delivery Test (HDT). You can find more information on the HDT in Housing Delivery in Cornwall.
In December 2024 the Government published an updated version of the NPPF and new planning targets for housebuilding for every council. The mandatory housing target for Cornwall was set at 4,421. This is a significant increase on the amount previously required and planned for delivery. When the Council recalculated its position using the new methodology, in December 2024, the Council had a 3.9 year supply of land for housing. Less than the required 5 years.
Understanding the Government housing target
We have a revised housing requirement of around 4,421 dwellings per year. Because the data used to calculate these numbers changes over time, this may be slightly higher or lower at different times.
The target is calculated using the Government's standard method for assessing local housing need. It takes into account:
The number of existing homes in Cornwall (housing stock)
Local affordability (affordability ratios), with higher targets applied to areas where people struggle more to afford housing.
The detailed target is updated twice a year in March and May. This is when new housing stock and affordability data becomes available. The final housing requirement for the Local Plan will be based on the target at the point the Plan is submitted. We expect this to be December 2027.
If you would like more information on the calculations, please email housingintelligence@cornwall.gov.uk.
You can find more information on housing data in the Cornwall Monitoring Report webpage.
How planning decisions are affected
The planning system is designed to support sustainable development. Cornwall Council should make decisions in line with an up to date Local Plan. The default position is always approval rather than refusal, unless a proposal would:
cause significant harm, or
conflict with important planning policies.
How planning decisions are affected by the new national policies
The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published on 17 August 2026. We must now use it for all planning decisions.
The new NPPF is very different to previous versions. It contains national decision making policies (planning policies). All councils must use these for making planning decisions. Neighbourhood Plan and Local Plan policies are not automatically out of date if more than 5 years old. This means:
we can continue to use our Local Plan, but
only policies that are 'consistent' with national policy.
This does not change our position on five year housing land supply. Due to new national housing numbers, we still don’t have a five year supply. The previous approach to render ‘important policies’ out of date as a result, no longer applies.
We have checked all of our development plan policies against the new NPPF. Some of the policies are still out of date. This includes how many new homes should be built and where. A number of our policies are ‘materially inconsistent’ with the national decision-making policies. They can only be given very limited weight in decisions. A table of that assessment will be published soon.
Changes to the presumption in favour of sustainable development
The presumption in favour of sustainable development means that where the development is:
of high quality, and
in sustainable locations,
it should normally be approved, using the policies of the Local Plan and the NPPF.
The previous presumption in favour of sustainable development was also known as the 'tilted balance'. It has been replaced by a new permanent Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development, in the NPPF:
Policy S3 (describes what the presumption is)
Policy S4 (development within settlements), and
Policy S5 (development outside settlements).
Because we do not have a five year supply of housing land, other development may be acceptable under NPPF Policy S5.
This does not mean that development is automatically approved. Planning officers still make a planning judgement. They must judge the relative importance ('weight') of the benefits and harms. This judgement has a default position of approval rather than refusal, unless:
NPPF policies protecting important areas or assets provide a strong reason for refusal, or
the negative impacts clearly and significantly outweigh the benefits when assessed against the NPPF as a whole. This includes consideration of sustainable locations, good design, and delivery of affordable homes.
Planning and five year housing land supply
Where a local plan is more than 5 years old, we must be able to show that the plan can meet the new housing requirement of 4,421 homes per year to be ‘up to date’. Due to updated national housing requirements, the existing plan cannot meet that number. You can find more information on how Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plan policies are affected in our Interim Policy Position Statement. Please note we need to update the Interim Policy Position Statement.
What can we do
The challenge of the new housing requirements is that the only way to meet them is to approve more homes. We must also make sure that they get built.
It is a big increase to get from the existing Local Plan housing target of 2,707 to the new 4,421 target. This means:
we are unlikely to have a 5 year land supply for quite some time,
the additional presumption in favour of approving planning applications will continue until we can meet that higher target, and
this situation will exist even with the new Local Plan until the number is met.
Put simply, we need to approve and build more housing to meet that test. We will continue to find ways to improve our 5 years supply but it is not straightforward.
You can find out more about how we are planning the homes we need at:
Comments on planning applications
Please have regard to this when framing your comments on any planning application. Please also note that applications for Permission in Principle have a limited scope for consideration. You can find more information in our Permission in Principle guidance note.