Planning framework must focus more on transport

A new report by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has revealed that only half of housing in the 12 fast growing cities in England is built within 2km of train stations.

The institute’s Location of Development study maps and analyses the location of permissions for over 220,000 new homes in 12 fast-growing city-regions between 2012 and 2017, an finds that 51 per cent of new housing between 2015-17 has been permitted over 2km from railway stations, compared with 53 per cent in the same study conducted for the period 2012-15.

The RTPI’s response to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation, underlining how poorly located development risks negative economic, social and environmental impacts, stresses that the government must focus more on transport-oriented housing developments, seeking to tackle congestion air pollution in the process.

Victoria Hills, CEO of RTPI, sais: “The NPPF gives us the opportunity to ensure that planners have a sound policy framework which encourages transport orientated development. The funding and delivery of infrastructure should be targeted to maximise potential for sustainable development close to train stations and public transport hubs. Our research on where housing development is actually being permitted shows that current policies do not go far enough to underpin the need to deliver housing in the most sustainable places. We call on government to tighten up this aspect of the NPPF.”

RTPI’s Location of Development 2012 – 2017 study covers 12 city-regions in England: Cambridge, Brighton, Oxford, Bournemouth, Bristol, Plymouth, Coventry, Nottingham, Newcastle, Blackburn, Warrington and Leeds.