New NPPF

The government has published a new National Planning Policy Framework, which is the national document setting the blue print for development in the UK. Not surprisingly, given the governments previous exhortations to “Build, Baby, Build” it includes a presumption in favour of development anywhere within a settlement area. Interestingly, it includes a special paragraph on presumption in favour of high density developments within walking distance of a well connected station. Luckily for us Crowthorne station fails the test of “well connected” as it doesn’t have 4 trains per hour. The full 130 page document is available here.

https://www.cvag.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/National_Planning_Policy_Framework-2026.pdf