Government’s new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) came into force on 12 December 2024. This sets out revised guidance and policies for planning across England.
Government published a standard housing method alongside the NPPF. This is the method that we must use to understand how many new homes should be built each year in Cornwall. We must now plan for 4,421 homes in Cornwall instead of the 2,707 that we have been planning for under the current Local Plan.
Where a 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 for it to remain ‘up to date’.
We have concluded that this is not currently possible and on that basis some of our policies in the Local Plan will be considered ‘out of date’ for decision making. However, where our policies remain consistent with the NPPF they can continue to be used for decision making. This is true of the majority of our policies across the Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans.
View the Interim Policy Position Statement
We believe that most of our planning policies can continue to be used for planning decisions in conformity with the NPPF.
To help decision making under the ‘Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development’ the ‘Interim Policy Position Statement’ sets out:
- Which policies we think are out of date and which ones can still be used
- How our policies reflect national policies
- How we will make positive planning decisions
- Our principles for development
- Information about a new local plan
The Interim Statement was consulted on between 24 January and 21February 2025 and adopted by the Cornwall Growth Board on 27 March 2025.