Property experts have welcomed new revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for creating “greater clarity between plan-making and decision-making policies”.

Housing secretary Matthew Pennycook has unveiled new planning reforms to the NPPF, including rowing back on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules for small sites and auto-approval for new homes building upwards in towns and cities.

Pennycook also set out measures to boost development on brownfield sites, including the previously touted default ‘yes’ for suitable homes near train stations.

The NPPF also sets out requirements for new builds to include nature-friendly features such as swift bricks.

Dan Mitchell, planning partner at consultancy Marrons, hailed the revisions and praised the government’s “commitment to speed up plan-making in 2026”.

He added: “For the first time, the draft NPPF introduces greater clarity between plan-making and decision-making policies. The strengthening of the presumption in favour of sustainable development is of particular importance and will give greater confidence to our clients in bringing forward their schemes in the new year.

“There’s a clear strategy from the government to have universal plan coverage in place. It’s an unambiguous statement from the government to the development industry in 2026, that states: ‘Right – we have unlocked the planning system. Over to you now to deliver’.”

Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the National Federation of Builders, welcomed the reforms to BNG rules and said they should support small projects, but warned that the“policy is still broken”.

He added: “For as long as it remains based on broad habitats and not ecosystems, it will continue to make projects unviable, while not doing enough for wildlife.

“It feels perverse that on the one hand the government is saying new builds should include nature- friendly elements to support wildlife, but on the other it has a BNG policy that discounts their benefits for wildlife.”

However, Wojtulewicz said he supported the government’s plans to consider raising the exemption threshold on the Building Safety Levy for small developments to 50 dwellings.

Matthew Evans, a planning partner at law firm Forsters, added: “The planning system is complex and time-consuming, which so often locks out SME housebuilders, so it is positive to see the introduction of a proportionate system for sites of less than 49 homes”.

Evans said some of the other measures in the revised NPPF would “remove ambiguity” for developers and local authorities and should “streamline the process and deliver more homes, more quickly”.

He added: “Making use of brownfield land around train stations is logical, but it is also costly and at a time when viability is constrained, it will be interesting to see how quickly headway is made on the delivery of new homes in these locations.

“But the planning reform he government has rolled out so far seems to be having a material difference on the ground.”

Lawrence Turner, director at planning consultancy Boyer, said a number of measures set out in the revised NPPF should “help reduce delay and uncertainty, increase developer confidence, and unlock much-needed new homes”.

He added: “The emphasis on building homes around railway stations is long overdue and we support the proposed ‘default yes’ approach. However, minimum density expectations must allow sufficient flexibility to respond to local context, including heritage and townscape considerations, flood risk, site capacity and the availability of deliverable infrastructure.”