Two new consultations are now available on the following:
Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework
We emphasise the essential role of landscape in creating sustainable, healthy and resilient places. Landscape should be treated as critical infrastructure, embedded from the outset of planning and design.
High‑quality landscape contributes to climate resilience, biodiversity recovery, public health, and social inclusion. To achieve this, we call for regulatory parity, ensuring landscape quality and long‑term management are secured through the planning system. We urge Government to prioritise green‑blue infrastructure and nature‑based solutions, which offer cost‑effective and environmentally robust alternatives to traditional grey infrastructure.
We call for clearer alignment with international commitments, including the European Landscape Convention, the Climate Change Agreement, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We also stress the need for professional, objective evidence, such as Landscape Character Assessment and LVIA, to underpin planning decisions.
Our key asks include: reinstating “great weight” protections for designated landscapes; mandating professional landscape expertise within planning authorities; ensuring digital, GIS‑compatible data standards; strengthening environmental wording; requiring landscape‑led masterplanning; and securing delivery, funding and management mechanisms for public and communal green spaces.
We urge government to fully integrate these principles to support truly sustainable placemaking.
Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance
The Landscape Institute (LI) welcomes the improved clarity, usability, and structure of the draft Design & Placemaking PPG, particularly its stronger emphasis on green infrastructure, nature recovery, and practical design tools. However, we stress that the guidance must go further to embed a truly landscape‑led approach, ensuring landscape is treated as of fundamental importance rather than cosmetic.
Our key asks include:
- Stronger stewardship and long-term management requirements, with early identification of responsible bodies, sustainable funding models, and clearer definitions of community control.
- Explicit landscape-led principles, recognising landscape as the medium for all planning (in line with the European Landscape Convention) and ensuring integrated SuDS, Nature-Based Solutions, and robust landscape management plans.
- Improved public realm guidance, ensuring well-located, multifunctional spaces designed at concept stage to support health, nature, play, active travel, and climate adaptation.
- Higher-quality visual evidence and contextual analysis, including accurate graphics, early attention to existing landscape features, and an emphasis on spaces between buildings.
- Strengthened design review processes, including clearer expectations for applicant reporting and applicability from small sites to strategic schemes.
- Enhanced climate resilience guidance, including resource circularity, rainwater harvesting, and design for thermal comfort through appropriate planting.
Overall, we call for a fully integrated, landscape-led PPG that supports resilient, inclusive, and sustainable placemaking.
