05 May 2026
The POS Good Practice Guidance Note: Strategic Applications sets out how local planning authorities can shift from a traditional Development Team Service to a more proactive Design Team Service, ensuring that good design is embedded from the very start of major development proposals. The guide explains that Government now expects the planning system to “achieve well designed spaces” and treat the creation of high‑quality places as “fundamental to what the planning and development process should achieve” . It highlights national initiatives such as the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and the National Design Guide, all reinforcing the need for stronger design leadership in planning.
The guidance provides a structured five‑stage pre‑application model—Initiation, Urban Design, Community Engagement, Application Preparation and Closedown—aligned with the RIBA Plan of Work to maximise early influence on design outcomes. It emphasises collaborative working between planners, developers, councillors, communities and specialist consultees, supported by tools such as Planning Statements, Project Plans and Planning Performance Agreements. The overall aim is a front‑loaded, design‑led process that delivers better places, reduces risk, and ensures that strategic applications arrive as well‑considered, high‑quality proposals ready for determination.
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28 April 2026
POS has produced a track‑changed version of the draft Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) Regulations 2026, setting out the amendments we believe are necessary. Our revisions strengthen clarity, ensure proportionate delegation of decisions to officers or committees, and reinforce safeguards around lobbying and governance whilst retaining a triage approach which is MHCLG's preferred approach.
The draft reflects POS’s commitment to supporting a practical, efficient, and transparent decision‑making framework for LPAs.
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28 April 2026
POS has responded to the Government’s consultation on new Secretary of State notification requirements. We oppose disproportionate measures that would slow decision‑making, and we emphasise the need for proper resourcing wherever new processes are proposed. Our response supports proportionate safeguards for nationally significant nuclear and safety‑related development.
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10 March 2026
This is POS's final response to the consultation on a new National Planning policy Framework. The response was formally submitted to MHCLG on 10th March 2026.
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09 March 2026
POS has responded to the Governments consultation of reducing the prevalence of private estate management arrangements in new and existing developments.
POS welcomes the Government’s commitment to address the long‑standing issues surrounding the non‑adoption of roads, open spaces and other public realm infrastructure and we have responded to this consultation to reiterate our core principle: this is not, and must not become, a planning issue. A planning system that is more tightly focused on place‑making, and in which processes capable of digitisation or automation are simplified, is essential if LPAs are to operate effectively within the limited resources available. This principle is fundamental to meaningful planning reform and underpins POS’s wider recommendations set out in POS Manifesto 12 Planning Resources
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09 March 2026
The government published 7 week consultation on Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance which closes on 10th March. The proposals are intended to support the application of policies in the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 2025 with a single PPG which consolidates four existing guidance documents into a single streamlined resource called the draft Design and Placemaking PPG. The 4 existing documents are:
National design guide
Design process and tools planning practice guidance
National Model Design Code part 1
National Model Design Code part 2
The aim is to make design guidance clearer, more accessible, and easier to apply in practice.
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