National Planning Policy Framework, Annex B: Glossary
This is Annex B of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Applies to England
This is Annex B of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Affordable housing: Housing for sale or rent, for those whose needs are not met by the market (including housing that provides a subsidised route to home ownership and/or is for essential local workers or national military housing needs); and which complies with one or more of the following definitions:
a. Social Rent: meets all of the following conditions: (a) the rent is set in accordance with the government’s rent policy for Social Rent; (b) the landlord is a registered provider; and (c) it includes provisions to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision.
b. Other affordable housing for rent: meets all of the following conditions: (a) the rent is set in accordance with the government’s rent policy for Affordable Rent, or is at least 20% below local market rents (including service charges where applicable); (b) the landlord is a registered provider, except where it is included as part of a Build to Rent scheme (in which case the landlord need not be a registered provider); and (c) it includes provisions to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision. For Build to Rent schemes affordable housing for rent is expected to be the normal form of affordable housing provision (and, in this context, is known as Affordable Private Rent).
c. Discounted market sales housing: is that sold at a discount of at least 20% below local market value. Eligibility is determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices. Provisions should be in place to ensure housing remains at a discount for future eligible households.
d. Other affordable routes to home ownership: is housing provided for sale that provides a route to ownership for those who could not achieve home ownership through the market. It includes shared ownership, relevant equity loans, other low cost homes for sale (at a price equivalent to at least 20% below local market value) and rent to buy (which includes a period of intermediate rent). Where public grant funding is provided, there should be provisions for the homes to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for any receipts to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision, or refunded to government or the relevant authority specified in the funding agreement.
e. Military affordable housing: meets all of the following conditions: (a) the rent is sub-market military rent as determined by the Ministry of Defence; and (b) it includes provisions to remain as affordable housing for future eligible households, service personnel and veteran households (including widowed partners and spouses of service personnel), or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision.
Air Quality Management Areas: Areas designated by local authorities because they are not likely to achieve national air quality objectives by the relevant deadlines.
Ancient or veteran tree: A tree which, because of its age, size and condition, is of exceptional biodiversity, cultural or heritage value. All ancient trees are veteran trees. Not all veteran trees are old enough to be ancient, but are old relative to other trees of the same species. Very few trees of any species reach the ancient life-stage.
Ancient woodland: An area that has been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD. It includes ancient semi-natural woodland (ASNW), plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS), ancient wood pasture and parkland (AWPP) and infilled ancient wood pasture and parkland (IAWPP).
Archaeological interest: There will be archaeological interest in a heritage asset if it holds, or potentially holds, evidence of past human activity worthy of expert investigation at some point.
Article 4 direction: A direction made under Article 4 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 which withdraws permitted development rights granted by that Order.
Aviation airfields: Licensed or unlicensed aerodromes with hard or grass runways, often with extensive areas of open land related to aviation activity.
Best and most versatile agricultural land: Land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC). ALC is graded from 1 to 5 and based on yield, range and versatility of use, and need for input.
Brownfield land: See Previously developed land.
Brownfield land registers: Registers of previously developed land that local planning authorities consider to be appropriate for residential development, having regard to criteria in the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Registers) Regulations 2017. Local planning authorities will be able to trigger a grant of permission in principle for residential development on suitable sites in their registers where they follow the required procedures.
Build to Rent: Purpose built housing that is typically 100% rented out. It can form part of a wider multi-tenure development comprising either flats or houses, but should be on the same site and/or contiguous with the main development. Schemes will typically be professionally managed stock in single ownership and management control.
Climate change adaptation: Adjustments made to natural or human systems in response to the actual or anticipated impacts of climate change, to mitigate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities.
Climate change mitigation: Action to reduce the impact of human activity on the climate system, primarily through reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Coastal Change Management Area: An area identified in plans as likely to be affected by physical changes to the coast, estuaries or tidal rivers, over the next century, through erosion, coastal landslip, permanent inundation or coastal accretion.
Community facilities: Meeting places, public houses, places of worship, cultural venues, youth centres, allotments, cemeteries and burial grounds, and facilities for play, sport and informal recreation.
Community-led development: A development taken forward by, or with, a not-for-profit organisation, that is primarily for the purpose of meeting the needs of its members or the wider local community, rather than being a primarily commercial enterprise. The organisation should be created, managed and democratically controlled by its members, and membership of the organisation should be open to all beneficiaries and prospective beneficiaries of that organisation. It may take any one of various legal forms including a co-operative society, community benefit society and company limited by guarantee. The organisation should own, manage or steward the development in a manner consistent with its purpose, potentially through a mutually supported arrangement with a registered provider of social housing. The benefits of the development to the community should be clearly defined and consideration given to how those benefits can be protected over time, including in the event of the organisation being wound up.
Community Right to Build Order: An Order made by the local planning authority (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) that grants planning permission for a site-specific development proposal or classes of development.
Competent person (to prepare site assessment information): A person with a recognised relevant qualification, sufficient experience in dealing with the type(s) of pollution or land instability, and membership of a relevant professional organisation.
Connectivity: The degree to which a location provides access to jobs, services, and facilities by sustainable transport modes. The Connectivity Tool provides a means of assessing this.
Conservation/conserve (for heritage policy): The process of maintaining and managing change to a heritage asset in a way that sustains, preserves and, where appropriate, enhances its significance.
Contamination: Where the actual or suspected presence of substances in, on or under the land may cause risks to people, property, human activities or the environment, regardless of whether or not the land meets the statutory definition of contaminated land in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Critical and growth minerals: Critical minerals are materials with the greatest economic importance and highest risk of supply disruption. This includes bismuth, borates, indium, iron, magnesite, magnesium, niobium, phosphorous, sodium compounds, tellurium, vanadium and zinc. Growth minerals are those which are of greatest importance to the Industrial Strategy’s growth sectors. This includes beryllium, chromium, copper, uranium and graphite (natural and synthetic). The following minerals are identified as both critical and growth minerals in the Critical Minerals Strategy[footnote 69]: aluminium, antimony, cobalt, gallium, germanium graphite (natural), hafnium, helium, manganese, nickel, Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) (which include iridium, platinum, rhodium and ruthenium), Rare Earth Elements (REEs), rhenium, silicon, tantalum, tin, titanium, tungsten and lithium.
Deliverable: To be considered deliverable, sites for housing or other pitches and plots should be available now, offer a suitable location for development now, and be achievable with a realistic prospect that homes will be delivered on the site within five years. In particular:
a. sites which do not involve major development and have planning permission, and all sites with detailed planning permission, should be considered deliverable until permission expires, unless there is clear evidence that homes will not be delivered within five years (for example because they are no longer viable, there is no longer a demand for the type of units or sites have long-term phasing plans).
b. where a site has outline planning permission for major development, has been allocated in a development plan, has a grant of permission in principle, or is identified on a brownfield land register, it should only be considered deliverable where there is clear evidence that homes will be delivered on-site within five years.
Design code: A set of illustrated design requirements that provide specific, detailed parameters for the physical development of a site, or area. The graphic and written components of the code should build upon a design vision, such as a masterplan or other design and development framework for a site or area.
Design guide: A document providing guidance on how development can be carried out in accordance with good design practice, often produced by a local authority.
Designated heritage asset: A World Heritage Site, Scheduled Monument, Listed Building, Protected Wreck Site, Registered Park and Garden, Registered Battlefield or Conservation Area designated under the relevant legislation or the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
Designated rural areas: National Parks, National Landscapes, areas designated as rural under Section 157 of the Housing Act 1985, and other parishes or unparished areas with a population of 3,000 or less and a population density of two persons or less per hectare.
Developable: To be considered developable, sites should be in a suitable location for housing development (or for traveller sites) with a reasonable prospect that they will be available and could be viably developed at the point envisaged.
Development plan: Is defined in section 38 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and includes adopted spatial development strategies, adopted local plans, adopted minerals and waste plans, adopted supplementary plans, neighbourhood plans that have been made and published and the policies maps for the area. Neighbourhood plans that have been approved at referendum are also part of the development plan, unless the local planning authority decides that the neighbourhood plan should not be made.
Disabled people: People have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment, and that impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. These persons include, but are not limited to, people with ambulatory difficulties, blindness, learning difficulties, autism and mental health needs.
Early years: The provision of childcare (including education) for a young child, meaning a child from birth to the September after the child turns five.
Ecosystem services: Functions of the natural environment, that directly or indirectly provide benefits for people.
Edge of centre: For retail purposes, a location that is well-connected to, and up to 300 metres from, a primary shopping area (if no primary shopping area has been defined in the development plan, it should be regarded as a location that is well-connected to, and up to 300 metres from, that part of the town centre within which retail uses predominate – measured from its outer edge). For all other main town centre uses, a location within 300 metres of a town centre boundary. For office development, this includes locations outside the town centre but within 500 metres of a public transport interchange. In determining whether a site falls within the definition of edge of centre, account should be taken of local circumstances.
Electricity network infrastructure: Infrastructure that facilitates the transmission of electricity from generation sources to end users, including transmission, distribution, and interconnection. This infrastructure is essential for the operation and expansion of the electricity network and includes components such as substations, converter stations, interconnectors, and cables.
Essential local workers: Public sector employees who provide frontline services in areas including health, education and community safety – such as NHS staff, teachers, police, firefighters and military personnel, social care and childcare workers.
Freight and logistics: Uses directly associated with the processing, storage, distribution and transportation of goods, alongside supporting infrastructure. This includes (but is not limited to) storage and distribution operations, rail freight terminals, intermodal facilities, HGV operating centres, lorry parking facilities, ports and inland border facilities.
Geodiversity: The range of rocks, minerals, fossils, soils and landforms, together with the natural processes which form and alter them.
Green infrastructure: A network of multi-functional green and blue spaces and other natural features, urban and rural, which is capable of delivering a wide range of environmental, economic, health and wellbeing benefits for nature, climate, local and wider communities and prosperity. It includes parks and gardens, green spaces, green corridors such as rivers and canals, sustainable drainage systems, features for species, street trees and community orchards.
Grey belt: For the purposes of plan-making and decision-making, ‘grey belt’ is defined as land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land and/or any other land that, in either case, does not strongly contribute to any of purposes (a), (b), or (d) in policy GB2.
Gypsies and travellers: Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, and all other persons with a cultural tradition of nomadism or of living in a caravan, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people travelling together as such.
Habitats site: Any site which would be included within the definition at regulation 8 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 and also including candidate Special Areas of Conservation or Special Protection Areas, listed or proposed Ramsar sites, relevant Marine Sites, and compensatory habitats which relate to these sites[footnote 70].
Heritage asset: A building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest. It includes but is not limited to designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authority (including local listing).
Heritage coast: Areas of undeveloped coastline which are managed to conserve their natural beauty and, where appropriate, to improve accessibility for visitors.
Historic environment: All aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time, including all surviving physical remains of past human activity, whether visible, buried or submerged, and landscaped and planted or managed flora.
Historic Environment Record: Information services that seek to provide access to comprehensive and dynamic resources relating to the historic environment of a defined geographic area for public benefit and use.
Housing Delivery Test: Measures net homes delivered in a local authority area against the homes required, using national statistics and local authority data. The Secretary of State will publish the Housing Delivery Test results for each local authority in England annually.
Integrated Coastal Zone Management: A holistic approach towards the planning and management of coastal areas (both land and marine), bringing together key interests to identify suitable approaches to long-term change and adaptation.
International, national and locally designated sites of importance for biodiversity: All international sites (Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, and Ramsar sites), national sites (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and locally designated sites including Local Wildlife Sites.
Irreplaceable habitat: Irreplaceable habitats are habitats with characteristic ecological features and processes which cannot successfully be created, or would take a very long time to establish and function normally. Irreplaceable habitats are difficult to recreate due to their rarity (being endangered or vulnerable to ecosystem collapse), environmental context, or because they have been established for a very long time (time thresholds may vary). They generally support important and/or rare species populations or assemblages. They include ancient woodland, ancient and veteran trees, blanket bog, limestone pavement, sand dunes, salt marsh and lowland fen.
Large-scale shared living accommodation: Accommodation which provides private rooms alongside shared communal spaces and facilities. This type of accommodation does not constitute self-contained dwellings (use class C3), HMOs, student accommodation, hotels, or other residential institutions.
Local Development Order: An Order made by a local planning authority (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) that grants planning permission for a specific development proposal or classes of development.
Local housing need: The number of homes identified as being needed through the application of the standard method set out in Annex D.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies: A system of spatial strategies for nature and environmental improvement required by law under s.104 of the Environment Act 2021.
Local Nature Reserves: A site managed as a nature reserve under s.21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 by principal local authorities.
Local plan: A plan for the future development of a local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community.
Local planning authority: The public authority whose duty it is to carry out specific planning functions for a particular area. All references to local planning authority include the district council, London borough council, county council, Broads Authority, National Park Authority, the Mayor of London and a development corporation, to the extent appropriate to their responsibilities.
Local Wildlife Sites: A term used to describe non-statutory areas identified by local authorities in the development plan for their biodiversity value. There are a number of different terms in use locally to describe these sites, including Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) and Sites of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCIs) and County Wildlife Sites (CWS).
Main town centre uses: Retail development (including warehouse clubs and factory outlet centres); leisure, entertainment and more intensive sport and recreation uses (including cinemas, restaurants, drive-through restaurants, bars and pubs, nightclubs, casinos, health and fitness centres, indoor bowling centres and bingo halls); banks; professional services; offices; and arts, culture and tourism development (including theatres, museums, galleries and concert halls, hotels and conference facilities).
Major development:[footnote 71] For housing, development where 10 or more homes will be provided, or the site has an area of 0.5 hectares or more. For non-residential development it means additional floorspace of 1,000m2 or more, or a site of 1 hectare or more, or as otherwise provided in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015.
Major hazard sites, installations and pipelines: Sites and infrastructure, including licensed explosive sites and nuclear installations, around which Health and Safety Executive (and Office for Nuclear Regulation) consultation distances to mitigate the consequences to public safety of major accidents may apply.
Mansard roof: A type of roof that is characterised by two slopes, the lower steep and the upper shallow. It is generally regarded as a suitable type of roof extension for buildings which are part of a terrace of at least three buildings and at least two storeys tall, with a parapet running the entire length of the front façade.
Masterplan: A masterplan is a flexible, placemaking tool, providing a three-dimensional spatial framework and long-term vision for the development or regeneration of area-specific or site-specific locations.
Mayoral Development Orders: An Order made by a mayor (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) that grants planning permission for a specific development proposal.
Medium development: A sub-set of major development, comprising housing development where 10-49 homes (inclusive) will be provided, and the site has an area of up to 2.5 hectares. Policies in this Framework which relate to major development involving the provision of housing also apply to medium development, whereas policies which apply exclusively to medium development do not apply to larger scales of development.
Mineral Consultation Area: A geographical area based on a Mineral Safeguarding Area, where the district or borough council should consult the mineral planning authority for any proposals for non-minerals development.
Minerals and waste plans: A plan containing policies on mineral and waste development, drawn up by the minerals and waste planning authority in consultation with the community. Minerals and waste matters can be dealt with in separate plans or combined with local plans where an authority is responsible for all these matters.
Minerals of national and local importance: Critical and growth minerals (as defined in this glossary) and other minerals which are necessary to meet society’s needs, including aggregates, brickclay (especially Etruria Marl and fireclay), silica sand (including high grade silica sands), coal derived fly ash in single use deposits, cement raw materials, gypsum, salt, fluorspar, oil and gas (including conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons), kaolin, ball clay, potash, polyhalite and local minerals of importance to heritage assets and local distinctiveness.
Mineral Safeguarding Area: An area designated by minerals planning authorities which covers known deposits of minerals which are desired to be kept safeguarded from unnecessary sterilisation by non-mineral development.
Model Design Codes: Standard design requirements published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for common development types that can be used and adopted locally.
National Landscapes: Areas legally designated as areas of outstanding natural beauty under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
Natural capital: Stock of natural assets which provide benefits to people in the form of tangible things which are typically marketed (such as timber, fish stocks, minerals) and less tangible services (such as air purification, recreational settings and flood prevention).
Natural Flood Management: Managing flood and coastal erosion risk by protecting, restoring and emulating the natural ‘regulating’ function of catchments, rivers, floodplains and coasts.
Nature based solutions: Actions which use natural processes to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges, benefiting both people and nature, such as the creation of woodlands or wetlands.
Neighbourhood Development Order: An Order made by a local planning authority (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) through which parish councils and neighbourhood forums can grant planning permission for a specific development proposal or classes of development.
Neighbourhood plan: A plan prepared by a parish council or neighbourhood forum for a designated neighbourhood area. In law this is described as a neighbourhood development plan in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.
Net developable area: For the purposes of policy L3, net developable area is the part of a site that can be developed for housing and directly associated uses, including access roads, hard landscaping (including footways, paved areas and servicing areas), private gardens, ground floor private and communal amenity space, ground level parking and incidental open spaces (including verges and threshold planting). It excludes land that is not suitable for built development, such as land required for strategic infrastructure, parks and public squares, and open spaces that deliver benefits as part of the wider green infrastructure network (including significant onsite biodiversity net gain enhancements and significant sustainable drainage features).
Older people: People over or approaching retirement age, including the active, newly-retired through to the very frail elderly; and whose housing needs can encompass accessible, adaptable general needs housing through to the full range of retirement and specialised housing for those with support or care needs.
Open space: All open space of public value, including not just land, but also areas of water (such as rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs) which offer important opportunities for sport and recreation and can act as a visual amenity.
Out of centre: A location which is not in or on the edge of a centre but not necessarily outside the settlement.
Outstanding Universal Value: Cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations. An individual Statement of Outstanding Universal Value is agreed and adopted by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for each World Heritage Site.
Permission in principle: A form of planning consent which establishes that a site is suitable for a specified amount of housing-led development in principle. Following a grant of permission in principle, the site must receive a grant of technical details consent before development can proceed.
Pitches and Plots: ‘Pitch’ means a pitch on a gypsy and traveller site and ‘plot’ means a pitch on a travelling showpeople site (often called a ‘yard’). This terminology differentiates between residential pitches for gypsies and travellers and mixed-use plots for travelling showpeople, which may / will need to incorporate space or to be split to allow for the storage of equipment.
Planning condition: A condition imposed on a grant of planning permission (in accordance with the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) or a condition included in a Local Development Order, Mayoral Development Order or Neighbourhood Development Order.
Planning obligation: A legal agreement entered into under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to mitigate the impacts of a development proposal.
Playing field: The whole of a site which encompasses at least one playing pitch as defined in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015.
Policies Map: A map prepared and maintained by a local planning authority, illustrating policies across all parts of the development plan.
Post-16: Young people who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan is maintained.
Previously developed land: Land which has been lawfully developed and is or was occupied by a permanent structure and any fixed surface infrastructure associated with it, including the curtilage of the developed land (although it should not be assumed that the whole of the curtilage should be developed). It also includes land comprising large areas of fixed surface infrastructure such as large areas of hardstanding which have been lawfully developed. Previously developed land excludes: land that is or was last occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings; land that has been developed but where provision for restoration has been made through development management procedures (including development related to minerals extraction, waste disposal by landfill and renewable and low carbon energy development, where provision for restoration exists); land in built-up areas such as residential gardens, parks, recreation grounds and allotments; and land that was previously developed but where the remains of the permanent structure or fixed surface structure have blended into the landscape.
Primary shopping area: Defined area where retail development is concentrated.
Priority or threatened species: Species which are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of development, including but not limited to species contained in the list of species and habitats of principal importance in England published by the Secretary of State pursuant to section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, protected species listed in Schedule 2 and Schedule 5 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, and species protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Protected Landscapes: Refers to National Parks, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads and National Landscapes in England.
Public service infrastructure: Education and healthcare facilities of all types, and facilities for blue light, social care, library and criminal justice uses.
Ramsar sites: Wetlands of international importance, designated under the 1971 Ramsar Convention.
Reasonable future scenarios: A range of realistic transport scenarios tested in agreement with the local planning authority and other relevant bodies (including statutory consultees where appropriate), to assess potential impacts and determine the optimum transport infrastructure required to mitigate any adverse impacts, promote sustainable modes of travel and realise the vision for the site.
Reasonable walking distance: For the purpose of policies S5, L3, GB7 (relating to land around well-connected stations), this should be considered to be around 800 metres, or around 10 minutes’ walk time if topography, route availability and quality or physical barriers would prevent or discourage walking from up to 800 metres away. For the purpose of policy HC5 (hot food takeaways) it should be considered to be around 400 metres, or around five minutes’ walk time if topography, route availability and quality or physical barriers would prevent or discourage walking up to 400 metres. Where a reasonable walking distance is required to be calculated when applying policies S5(1)(h), L3(2)(c) and GB7(1)(h), and only part of the site falls within the reasonable walking distance, those sub-paragraphs of policies S5, L3 and GB7 (relating to land around well-connected stations) only apply to the area of the site within that reasonable walking distance.
Recycled aggregates: Aggregates resulting from the processing of inorganic materials previously used in construction, e.g. construction and demolition waste.
Renewable and low carbon energy: Includes energy for heating and cooling as well as generating electricity. Renewable energy covers those energy flows that occur naturally and repeatedly in the environment – including from the wind, the fall of water, the movement of the oceans, from the sun and also from biomass and deep geothermal heat. Low carbon technologies are those that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions (compared to conventional use of fossil fuels). These technologies include, but are not limited to, nuclear power and supporting infrastructure, low carbon fuels such as biomethane and hydrogen, heat from recoverable sources (such as heat recovered from data centres), and the storage of renewable and low carbon energy, including long-duration and short-duration energy storage such as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
Repowering: the decommissioning and removal of existing renewable and low carbon energy infrastructure on-site, and its replacement with newer, larger or more efficient infrastructure. The repowered site may have a different overall capacity, layout and footprint from the original project. Repowering may require new associated infrastructure such as new network connection infrastructure and foundations.
Rural exception sites: Sites used for affordable housing in perpetuity where sites would not normally be used for housing. Rural exception sites seek to address the needs of the local community by accommodating households who are either current residents or have an existing family or employment connection. A proportion of market homes may be allowed on the site at the local planning authority’s discretion, for example where essential to enable the delivery of affordable units without grant funding.
Safeguarding zone: An area defined in Circular 01/03: Safeguarding aerodromes, technical sites and military explosives storage areas, to which specific safeguarding provisions apply.
Secondary aggregates: Aggregates from industrial wastes such as glass (cullet), incinerator bottom ash, coal derived fly ash, railway ballast, fine ceramic waste (pitcher), and scrap tyres; and industrial and minerals by-products, notably waste from china clay, coal and slate extraction and spent foundry sand. These can also include hydraulically bound materials.
Sectoral spatial plans: National or regional plans that focus on the spatial development of specific types of infrastructure.
Self-build and custom-build housing: Housing built by an individual, a group of individuals, or persons working with or for them, to be occupied by that individual. Such housing can be either market or affordable housing. A legal definition, for the purpose of applying the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 (as amended), is contained in section 1(A1) and (A2) of that Act.
Setting of a heritage asset: The surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced. Its extent is not fixed and may change as the asset and its surroundings evolve. Elements of a setting may make a positive or negative contribution to the significance of an asset, may affect the ability to appreciate that significance or may be neutral.
Settlement: Includes cities, towns, villages and other predominantly built-up areas, including land which is allocated or has permission for development which will form part of the built-up area once the development is complete. This includes areas defined as a settlement in the development plan (whether using defined settlement boundaries or equivalent terms, or criteria for identifying settlement extents where boundaries have yet to be defined). Settlements do not include hamlets and scattered groups of houses located outside predominantly built-up areas, unless specifically defined as a settlement in the development plan. For the purpose of this Framework they also exclude villages which lie within and are defined as part of the Green Belt in the development plan.
Significance (for heritage policy): The value of a heritage asset to this and future generations because of its heritage interest. The interest may be archaeological, architectural, artistic or historic. Significance derives not only from a heritage asset’s physical presence, but also from its setting. For World Heritage Sites, the cultural value described within each site’s Statement of Outstanding Universal Value forms part of its significance.
Significant observed adverse effect level: This is the level of noise exposure above which significant adverse effects on health and quality of life occur.
Site assessment information: Includes a risk assessment of land potentially affected by contamination, or ground stability and slope stability reports, as appropriate. All assessments of land potentially affected by contamination should be carried out in accordance with established procedures (such as BS10175 Investigation of Potentially Contaminated Sites – Code of Practice).
Site of Special Scientific Interest: Sites notified for their flora, fauna or geological, physiographical or geomorphological features (in England, these sites are notified under s. 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981).
Spatial development strategy: A plan containing policies on the development and use of land on matters of strategic importance to the area prepared by strategic planning authorities and the Mayor of London.
Special Areas of Conservation: Designated areas which have been given special protection as important conservation sites (in England, these sites are designated under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017).
Special Protection Areas: Areas classified for being of international importance for the breeding, feeding, wintering or the migration of rare and vulnerable species of birds (in England, these sites are classified under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017).
Specialist community-based accommodation: Includes, but is not limited to, accommodation for looked after children, supported accommodation for care leavers, and supervised, non-custodial housing for criminal justice purposes that provide structured support for individuals charged with or convicted of an offence, transitioning from custody, or serving community-based sentences.
Strategic environmental assessment: A procedure (set out in the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004) which requires the formal environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment.
Strategic site: A site for residential, commercial or mixed-use development which would be implemented in multiple phases, have significant infrastructure requirements and require a masterplan. Typically, for a residential-led development, strategic sites would have capacity for at least 1,500 dwellings (although the scale of residential development can vary depending on the mix of uses on the site).
Supplementary plans: A type of plan that relevant plan-making authorities can choose to prepare to set locally-specific design standards or shape and direct site-specific development. They must undergo consultation and independent examination.
Sustainable drainage system: A sustainable drainage system controls surface water run off close to where it falls, combining a mixture of built and nature-based techniques to mimic natural drainage as closely as possible, and accounting for the predicted impacts of climate change. The type of system that would be appropriate will vary from small scale interventions such as permeable paving and soakaways that can be used in very small developments to larger integrated schemes in major developments.
Sustainable transport modes: Any efficient, safe and accessible means of transport with overall low impact on the environment, including walking, wheeling, cycling and public transport.
Technical sites: Any area within which is sited or is proposed to be sited equipment for the provision of air traffic services, as specified in the Town and Country Planning (Safeguarded Aerodromes, Technical Sites and Military Explosives Storage Areas) Direction 2002.
Town centre: Area defined in the local authority’s policies map in the development plan including the primary shopping area and areas predominantly occupied by main town centre uses within or adjacent to the primary shopping area. References to town centres or centres apply to city centres, town centres, district centres and local centres as defined in the development plan but exclude small parades of shops of purely neighbourhood significance. Unless they are identified as centres in the development plan, existing out-of-centre developments, comprising or, including main town centre uses, do not constitute town centres.
Transport assessment: A comprehensive and systematic process that considers and sets out transport issues relating to a proposed development, in the context of the vision for the scheme. It identifies measures required to support alternatives to the car such as walking, wheeling, cycling and public transport, and to promote accessibility and safety, together with measures that will be needed to deal with the anticipated transport impacts of the development.
Transport statement: A simplified version of a transport assessment where it is agreed the transport issues arising from development proposals are limited and a full transport assessment is not required.
Travel plan: A long-term management strategy for an organisation or site that details how agreed sustainable transport objectives are to be delivered, and which is monitored and regularly reviewed.
Travellers: Gypsies and travellers, and travelling showpeople.
Travelling showpeople: Members of a group organised for the purposes of holding fairs, circuses or shows (whether or not travelling together as such). This includes such persons who on the grounds of their own or their family’s or dependants’ more localised pattern of trading, educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, but excludes gypsies and travellers as defined separately in this glossary.
Vision-led approach: An approach to transport planning which sets outcomes for a development based on achieving well-designed, sustainable, inclusive and popular places, and provides the transport solutions to deliver those outcomes as opposed to predicting future demand to provide capacity (often referred to as ‘predict and provide’).
Well-connected station: Railway stations and underground, tram and light rail stops located within a top 80 Travel to Work Area located partially or fully within England by Gross Value Added (GVA)[footnote 72] and which, in the normal weekday timetable, are served (or have a reasonable prospect of being served due to planned upgrades or through agreement with the rail operator) throughout the daytime by at least four trains or trams per hour overall, or at least two trains or trams per hour in any one direction.
Wheeling: The use of wheelchairs, mobility scooters and similar mobility aids as a means of travel.
Windfall sites: Sites not specifically identified in the development plan.
This is Annex B of the National Planning Policy Framework
Continue to Annex C: Information requirements.
Return to the National Planning Policy Framework homepage.
Footnotes
69. Critical Minerals Strategy published in: Vision 2035: Critical Minerals Strategy. ↩
70. Potential Special Protection Areas, possible Special Areas of Conservation and proposed Ramsar sites are sites on which the Government has initiated public consultation on the scientific case for designation as a Special Protection Area, candidate Special Area of Conservation or Ramsar Site. ↩
71. Other than for the specific purposes of policies N4 and N5. ↩
72. For the purpose of assessing whether Travel to Work Areas fall within this definition, the 2023 GVA data should continue to be used up to the day after the publication of the 2028 GVA data. For subsequent years, the GVA data used for the purpose of this definition should continue to be regarded as fixed for each 5 year period. Published in: UK gross value added (GVA) and productivity estimates for other geographies. ↩