The Government has now published their revised National Planning Policy Framework – essentially the planning rules for England – including a default “yes” to housing development within “reasonable walking distance” of “well-connected” railway stations.
The principle of making it easier to build new homes near railway stations is a sensible one, but the rules should differentiate between a small village station in the countryside and a busy town centre hub to ensure development is appropriately targeted. Unfortunately the new rules don’t, which means we will see significant amounts of development across Reigate & Banstead in close proximity to small village stations that no one locally would ever consider “well-connected”.
I have been warning for months that, as drafted, the rules allowing for this policy are too “one-size-fits-all” and will open the door to inappropriate development on green belt land lacking suitable infrastructure.
The Government did consult on their proposed changes and I engaged with that process in good faith. I also raised my key concerns directly with the Minister.
I am extremely disappointed with how few of my concerns have been meaningfully addressed or even acknowledged, but it is fair to say that Ministers have made some changes following consultation feedback. The NPPF now defines “reasonable walking distance” as ‘around 800 metres, or around a ten-minute walk where the actual route, topography or physical barriers make 800 metres unrealistic’. This is an improvement as previously the term “reasonable walking distance" was undefined creating huge uncertainty and scope for much greater distances to be included. I also hope that the new definition will allow some element of route safety to be taken into account when determining whether a potential site is “reasonable walking distance” - this is particularly important for rural areas lacking pavements.
I also welcome a significant concession on the density of new development. The draft NPPF called for 50 dwellings per hectare around well-connected stations. This has now been reduced to 35dph, rising to 45dph where the station has at least twice the minimum service frequency required to qualify as well-connected. I will have more to say on how the fine details of this policy will affect our individual stations in the near future – but on density, we are certainly in a better position than we were under the draft.
Of major concern is that the Government has not materially changed their method for deciding what counts as a “well-connected” station. Rather than looking properly at the particular character of the community, the capacity of local infrastructure, or whether the station in question truly functions as a major transport hub, the Government will simply rely on how many trains stop there and whether it sits within a very large economic “Travel to Work Area”. Absurdly, this means village stations such as Chipstead, Tadworth and Kingswood will be considered “well connected” under these rules.
The final NPPF also creates a particularly significant change for the Green Belt. Housing development within reasonable walking distance of a qualifying station can now be treated as “not inappropriate” development in the Green Belt. Crucially, the land in question does not even have to be classed as “grey belt”. That means development around qualifying stations can avoid the normal Green Belt requirement to demonstrate the “very special circumstances” which have traditionally provided an important safeguard against inappropriate development. This is a serious weakening of existing Green Belt protections.
And there is another glaring omission. If the Government wants substantially more people living around railway stations, where is the matching commitment to the new infrastructure these residents will need?
There has been no ironclad provision for extra GP appointments, school places, road improvements, drainage capacity or other local services – and most obviously of all, there has been no commitment to increase the capacity and frequency of the trains themselves.
I support building the homes this country needs – but they need to be the right homes, in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure. National rules should not treat a small village station surrounded by Green Belt in the same way as a major town-centre station.
I will continue to raise my concerns with Ministers, but unfortunately with this change in rules this Government has made it very difficult to stop inappropriate development around small village rail stations, even on Green Belt, going forwards. But that probably was their intention all along.
