It used to be that policy trumped guidance but it is not so certain any more.
The government's planning policy is set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which is modified intermittently and after appropriate consultation. The last version was published on 7 February 2025.
The government guidance for planning policy is called the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG). This is updated regularly (often without notice) and appears online.
The Court of Appeal (COA) has just upended the old orthodoxy in Mead Realisations Limited v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, North Somerset Council [2025] EWCA Civ 32 (Mead).
Now, since the PPG and the NPPF are both published by the Secretary of State, "their status is equivalent".
The COA decision is not quite as clear-cut as it appears and the PPG will mainly modify the NPPF where there is insufficient detail in the NPPF to understand the intended policy.
Neither the NPPF nor the PPG are legislation and legislation is still the biggest beast in the jungle. However, now the NPPF and the PPG can have equivalent status.
There is normally a consultation on modifying the NPPF whereas there isn't on modifying the PPG. It is possible that the government may decide to alter planning policy without consultation by modifying the PPG. It is not clear what will happen where the NPPF and PPG conflict.
We do know that the old certainty that policy trumps guidance is now dead and that practitioners will have to pay much more attention to changes to the PPG.
Mead was about how the flooding sequential test works and this is a key example of an area where the NPPF has not provided a workable policy but the PPG has.
We believe that it is likely that the government will use the more traditional NPPF modification route (with consultation) to effect major changes in planning policy and only use the PPG route (without consultation) for minor changes/clarifications or to support the NPPF.
Watch the courts carefully for cases where the NPPF and PPG do not fully align!
If you would like further information or to discuss this please contact
Jade.Chalmers@howardkennedy.com
or Bob.Sadler@howardkennedy.com
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