Planning for homebuilding and regeneration
Guidance on large-scale master planning, the rights and obligations associated with the planning process, and environmental and sustainability challenges.
Homes England aims to ensure that planning conditions are met throughout the planning process, while ensuring homes and places have minimal impact on the environment.
Homes England is not responsible for and does not endorse the information provided by any third parties we’ve referenced on this page. We are not promoting one organisation above another. Please see the disclaimer in the GOV.UK terms and conditions. The contents of any Homes England videos we’ve included were applicable at the time of recording; they do not constitute legal advice and are provided for informational purposes only.
Planning strategy
Guidance on calculating local economic impact, long-term stewardships for large developments and assessing sector risk profiles.
The National Housing Federation’s Local Economic Impact Calculator is a free tool that provides estimates around the economic impact of building new affordable homes and the activity of housing associations in a given area).
Masterplanning
Guidance on masterplanning and how it is used to structure land use and development, what a masterplan should look like, and some of the practical challenges and considerations for planning large-scale developments.
This includes large-scale housing estates, planning for garden communities, green infrastructure guidance and the importance of liveability.
Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Guidance outlines green infrastructure planning and delivery.
The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has several resources to support placemaking:
Local planning
Guidance on the planning process, including:
- the use of planning performance agreements and local plan design reviews
- preparing planning policies for the elderly and disabled
- planning implications of development in designated protected areas
- the latest news from the Planning Advisory Service (PAS)
The Urban Design Comment Tracker from Public Practice helps officers and developers measure design quality, and applies to proposals of different scales through the planning process.
Public Practice has guidance on how authorities can manage efficient in-house design review services.
The Planning Advisory Service has put together resources on pre-application advice and planning performance agreements:
Read the latest news on planning from the Planning Advisory Service.
Watch this Homes England video on an inter-generational approach to later living.
Section 106 agreements, the Community Infrastructure Levy and other developer contributions
Guidance on the use of planning obligations through the use of section 106 and section 278 agreements, explaining how you should use and carry out effectively conditions attached to a planning permission.
You will also find information on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and how it operates.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has produced some guidance on securing developer contributions for education.
Permitted development rights
Guidance on amendments to planning requirements and on permitted development rights (PDRs) and how they can be exercised.
As part of the ‘Healthy Homes’ campaign, the Town and County Planning Association (TCPA) captured a series of homes created through PDRs in a resource titled ‘These Are Homes’.
Environment and sustainability
Guidance on the climate crisis and how to address it through planning and placemaking.
You can also find information on assessing the environmental impact of a decision to retrofit instead of rebuild.
The Town and Country Planning Association has developed a series of resources and case studies around the climate crisis and the role of local authorities in meeting this challenge:
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Rising to the climate change challenge: The role of housing and planning within local councils
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The Climate Crisis – a guide for local authorities on planning for climate change
The Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) has developed guidance on meeting UK climate change targets:
The Planning Advisory Service has guidance on biodiversity net gain and its importance in maintaining the integrity of the natural environment.
The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has a series of technical resources supporting the sustainability of the built environment.
Building with Nature is a resource that gives planners and developers evidence-based, how-to guidance on delivering good green infrastructure.
Natural England developed the Green Infrastructure Framework to help local planning authorities and developers meet National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requirements to consider green infrastructure in local plans and in new development.
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) provides guidance on how to put net zero and nature recovery at the forefront of the design and placemaking process.
Watch this Homes England video on regeneration and zero carbon.
Public Practice has guidance on the themes of infrastructure and sustainability, with information on net zero and climate change.
Watch this Homes England video on green infrastructure.
The Ecosystems Knowledge Network (EKN) has a series of published guidance documents, reports, tools and case studies to help people manage the environment as an asset for the benefit of everyone.
Watch this Homes England video on the principles of biodiversity net gain.
Watch this Homes England video on biodiversity net gain readiness.
Watch this Homes England video on understanding Environmental Impact Assessments.
Garden towns and villages
Guidance on how to plan, promote, develop and maintain garden communities.
You can apply much of the guidance in the Garden Communities Toolkit to almost any other housing development.
The Town and Country Planning Association has developed 3 resources to support the development of garden communities:
Housing tenure
Guidance on the ways in which a property can be owned or occupied.
This includes information about Rent to Buy, First Homes and its implementation, Build to Rent and specialist housing.
Watch this Homes England video on the tenure category Build-To-Rent.
Watch this Homes England video on planning for later living.
Estate regeneration
Guidance on how estate regeneration can transform neighbourhoods through high-quality, well-designed places.
Trowers and Hamlins have developed an A to Z guide on estate regeneration schemes.
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has developed a practice advice note with guidance for planners bringing forward large-scale housing developments.
Updates to this page
Last updated 23 November 2023 + show all updates
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New Homes England Learning Programme videos added on biodiversity net gain, regeneration and zero carbon, environmental impact assessments, green infrastructure and planning for later living. A new resource has been added on securing developer contributions for education.
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Video on long-term stewardships for large developments has moved to the Building healthy places page.
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New Estate regeneration section created with new guidance links. Guidance from Trowers and Hamlins and the Royal Town Planning Institute moved from Masterplanning to New Estate regeneration section. Effective use of land page moved from Masterplanning to the Feasibility section of Using land for homebuilding and regeneration page.
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First published.