NPPF Consultation 10 March 2026

Posted on 8th March, 2026

NPPF Constation closes Tuesday 10th March 2026

Link to consultation, proposed changes and draft pdf and response to the consultation.

"National planning policy as it stands already carries very considerable weight in the planning system: it must be taken into account in plan production, and is an important material consideration when making decisions on planning applications"

How did NSC repsond to this public consultation? How did they protect farming, food production and food security?

One of many concerning statements in the NPPFproposed changes states,

"Since the current Framework was updated in December 2024, an unprecedented 80% of major residential appeals located on grey belt land have been approved, homes that likely wouldn’t have been built under previous policy"

How much of that was food producing farmed land? Did the local authorities quantify the food producion loss or risk to food security before allowing that to happen?

"A record 6,365 agriculture, forestry, and fishing businesses closed in" 2024/25 (PDF)

The Draft NPPF Dec 2025 consultation states:

“Grey belt: For the purposes of plan-making and decision-making, ‘grey belt’ is defined as land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and/or any other land that, in either case, does not strongly contribute to any of purposes (a), (b), or (d) in policy GB2.”

However, the NPPFdoesn't clearly state the impact it’s had (or will have) on farming, food production and food security. It also doesn’t clearly direct local authorities to consider these issues in its Local Plan making.

The NPPF can assist NSC to protect the food producing land, if they choose to do so, via, for example, but not limited to:

• S1 - Positive plan-making (strategic policy - identifies land where development would undermine food production or rural land uses, restricts non-food production development)

• S2 - Producing a spatial strategy (core plan-making policy - designates and safeguards that food producing land)

• S5 - Principle of development outside settlements (structural protection - reinforces safeguards for food-producing land)

• PM8 - Evidence for plan-making (proven need for land use constraints for food production, links with local, regional and national food production and security)

• PM9 - Identifying land for development

• PM15 - Examining local plans and minerals and waste plans

• Chapter 4 - Achieving sustainable development

• Chapter 19 - Conserving and enhancing the natural environment

There is also a valid concern that the unprotected land may be developed if NSC join WECA. WECA’s current consultation title is revealing, ‘Expanding the West of England Combined Authority into North Somerset’

However, the NPPF can help protect food production land via:

• PM10 - Maintaining cooperation between plan-making authorities

• PM11 - Demonstrating cooperation between plan-making authorities

With regards land use prioritisation:

• Food production should take priority as it is one of the 13 Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sectors.

• Housing (despite government’s current ‘targets’) is not a CNI. Also, CPRE has stated that over half of the 1.4 million brownfield sites could be built on rapidly, there is no need to use valuable food producing farmland. This will require better cross-boundary and national coordination.

• Solar generation is treated as part of the wider Energy sector, not as its own critical sector. Solar farms fall under electricity generation, but the CNI framework does not treat individual generation technologies (solar, wind, biomass, etc.) as separate critical sectors. Instead, they are components of the broader Energy sector. Therefore, food production has higher national priority than solar deployment. Solar should be built on roofs not fields. We would also like to know the response NSC submitted to the recent NPPF Consultation, to ensure future protection of farming, food production and food security within North Somerset and surrounding area.

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