The RICS has responded to the government’s consultation on Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres (PPS 6).

The key concerns of the RICS’ response are:

• The failure to publish practice guidance along with PPS 6 will lead to uncertainty over how to apply the new impact tests.
• There is further scope for refining the impact test. The objective should be to make it sufficiently flexible to respond to local situations and circumstances whilst still providing certainty.
• The success of PPS 6 is dependent upon local authorities having up-to-date Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) in place. Therefore, the small number of LDFs which have been adopted is a major cause for concern.
• Clear guidance will be required to ensure that the introduction of competition into the planning system does not act as a block on development.

For further information, please contact Damian Cleghorn dcleghorn@rics.org.