Revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) - August 2026

A revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published on 17 August 2026.  The NPPF sets out the government’s policies for plan-making and for making decisions on development proposals in England and how these are expected to be applied.  The revised NPPF has had a substantial revision to provide a more structured framework with clearer separation of national decision-making policies and plan-making policies.  Much of the changes in the NPPF are around housing development, to support growth and clearly establish national planning policy.  The changes to the NPPF will impact several EMAQ webinars where development and planning processes are considered (for example air quality webinars with consideration of development impacts on air quality).  

EMAQ+ will update all affected presentations starting with the Essentials Packages as a priority.  Others will be updated as quickly as possible.  In the interim, webinars which may be impacted by the changes in the NPPF may receive a 'health warning' notice to advise members that content may not reflect the August 2026 NPPF revision.