Planning Policy Guidance Notes

In the United Kingdom, Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPG) were statements of the Government's national policy and principles towards certain aspects of the town planning framework.

These national policy documents were originally known as PPGs and under the provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, they were gradually being replaced by Planning Policy Statements (PPS).

On 27 March 2012 they were replaced by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). In recent years prior to their withdrawal they applied to England only. They were material considerations in the determination of planning applications.

The last PPGs in force until March 2012 were:

PPG 2 was a document produced by the British Government to advise Local planning authorities on national green belt policy and its consideration in the formation of Local Plans. The last version was introduced in March 2001 (original) and replaced Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) Note 2 Green belts published in January 1995.

PPG 3 advised local planning authorities on the treatment of housing within the planning process. The last version was introduced in March 2000 following the Rogers Report and replaced the 1992 version. Two updates were published on 24 January 2005 - Planning Policy Guidance 3: Housing: Planning for sustainable communities in rural areas and Planning Policy Guidance 3: Housing: Supporting the delivery of new housing.

PPG3 was introduced to steer policy away from the development of large, spacious houses on greenfield sites, towards higher density development using brownfield or urban sites wherever possible. It also sought to compel developers to provide a greater element of affordable housing. Because of the slow speed at which Local Planning Authorities Local Plans were updated - and the recent changes to the planning system which abolished Local Plans in favour of Local Development Frameworks - local policy is often at variance with PPG3, resulting in confusion and a higher incidence of planning appeals.

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