Local planning policies will now carry less influence over energy projects when they conflict with the government’s clean energy priorities. The new NPPF for England compels decision-makers to give substantial weight to renewable and low-carbon development and gives clearer recognition to electricity networks and storage. Commercial renewable energy projects will no longer face an extra location test when proposed outside areas identified locally as suitable for development.

Meanwhile, onshore oil and gas projects, such as fracking, will lose the favourable planning treatment given to most other mineral developments.

The biggest change for renewable developers concerns sites that have not been selected through a local plan. Previously, developers proposing commercial renewables projects outside locally identified areas had to show that the site met the council’s criteria for renewables development. That requirement has been removed. Applications will instead be judged against national planning policies as a whole, allowing the pros and cons of a site to be considered without first clearing this additional hurdle.

The framework also says serious consideration should be given to the benefits of renewables and low-carbon development. Planning consultancy Pegasus Group believes this will help projects where local plans do not identify suitable sites or have fallen behind national policy. However, developers will still need to show that the local impacts are acceptable.

Electricity networks receive more explicit support too. The framework recognises the need for new power lines and related infrastructure to meet rising demand.

Energy storage is clearly included within low-carbon development, with specific recognition for battery energy storage systems and longer-duration technologies. These provisions should give councils clearer guidance when making decisions on projects that are not covered adequately by their local plans.

The new framework limits how much influence older local planning policies can have over an application. Where a local policy clearly conflicts with national rules for deciding applications, councils should give it very limited weight. This could matter in areas where an older plan places tighter restrictions on renewables development or has not caught up with technologies such as battery storage.

Councils will still use their local plans and consider how each project would affect the surrounding area. Recently updated policies that already reflect the new framework will continue to carry weight. The difference will be felt where a plan is out of date. In those cases, developers will find it easier to argue that their application should be judged against current national policy, giving councils another reason to update their plans.

The framework takes a tougher approach to onshore oil and gas. The previous version told councils to give great weight to the benefits of mineral extraction, which included oil and gas projects. The new framework specifically excludes them from that favourable treatment and says applications should normally be refused unless one of its stated exceptions applies.

Development may still be considered in areas where the right to search for and extract petroleum has already been licensed, so the framework does not amount to a complete ban. Even so, planning permission will be harder to secure. The framework gives explicit backing to minerals needed for the move to a low-carbon economy, reflecting their growing importance to clean energy technologies.

Questions remain because the government’s supporting planning practice guidance has not yet been updated. It still contains older wording on suitable areas and the local backing required for onshore wind. The government says revisions will follow, but has not said when.

Pegasus Group warns that the delay could lead councils and developers to interpret the new rules differently. It also wants the guidance to make clear that local renewable energy targets should not place a ceiling on further development. The full effect of the framework should become clearer once councils begin applying it and the supporting guidance catches up.