How the new NPPF is supporting town centres
by Matt Morris
In an unlikely turn of events, it was the protection of public houses which made the headlines when the government published the new version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in August 2026. It was perhaps ironic that this ‘new’ protection for pubs wasn’t new at all, given that many local authorities already have policies which protect pubs under local community facility policies.
It is, however, worth spending some time on what the new NPPF will mean for town centres and those land uses which are classified as main town centre uses: retail, leisure, visitor accommodation, intensive sport and recreation uses, plus arts and cultural uses.
The new NPPF is keen to re-state and reinforce the government’s commitment to town centres. Over the summer, the issue of ‘town centres’ has been a key part of Andy Burnham’s core principles for his new administration at Number 10 and this is reflected in the final version of the new policy document.
Diversity of uses in town centres is now firmly embedded in national policy, with the government recognising that town centres cannot survive on traditional retail and leisure uses alone, plus town centres are an excellent (if challenging) way of delivering new homes.
The ongoing drive towards a much wider set of land uses in town centres has had the brakes applied though. The final version of the NPPF retains the need to define primary shopping areas (the draft proposed that they should be given less weight), whilst the government’s response to the consultation draft made it clear that residential uses in town centres should not be pursued at the expense of the vitality and viability of town centres.
With the advent of national development management policies, policies about town centre development can now focus on the individual characteristics of each local authority’s centres. The NPPF gives local authorities a clear invitation to provide a strategy for each of their centres, including the land uses and functions that are really important.
The need for town centre strategies is the first topic mentioned by the new plan-making policy for town centres, and this will require evidence base assessments to fully understand the health, role and function of town centres. In my recent experience, this will translate into the need for up-to-date and reliable empirical data in order to show local plan inspectors how policies and strategies have been formulated and how they’ll be effective. In some areas, this will translate into the need for new and better masterplanning work.
In particular, plan-making policy (TC1) wants to see local authorities plan to accommodate needs across the whole of a local plan period and not just a minimum of ten years. Clear masterplanning work will be key to this process and I would urge those preparing strategic development strategies (SDS) to consider how the strategic aspects of city and town centre development need to fit into the core SDS themes, alongside the obvious housing and employment land topics.
Those with a particular interest in the legislative aspects of town-centre land uses will have been well aware of the questions posed by the draft NPPF consultation around Class E. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) contemplated whether the introduction of use class E had reduced the influence of the sequential test, with the December 2025 consultation document containing a rather extreme potential scenario where the whole of the sequential test is dropped from national policy.
Importantly, this hasn’t happened and the sequential test remains within the NPPF unaltered. The official line from MHCLG is that the operation of Use Class E is being kept “under review”.
It is perhaps ironic that, having raised the issue of the effectiveness of the use class order, the government has immediately proceeded to propose a change to the order to deal with the perceived problematic nature of vape shop and adult gaming centre uses. The proposal is to remove them from their existing classifications which, in the case of adult gaming centres, is relatively straightforward. However, the ability to deal with vape shops via the planning regime is problematic, given that it is the nature of the retail goods sold to which the government objects, rather than the retail use of the land. MHCLG will therefore be looking to ensure that any attempt to deal with the thorny issue of vape shops does not lead to the unintended consequences felt from the introduction of use class E.
For retail, leisure and other main town-centre land-use proposals outside of town centres, the new NPPF has tidied up some matters about the classification of sites for the (main town centre land use) sequential test. Apart from those welcome refinements, the main thrust of policy remains the same, with main town-centre land-use proposals outside of town centres subject to the sequential test, whilst edge and out of centre retail and leisure proposals will also continue to be assessed against their likely impact on town centres.
The continuation of these long-standing policies does not, however, come without some interest and debate. Within the draft NPPF, MHCLG proposed the inclusion of a specific reference to disaggregation. The draft proposal has not made it to the final version of the NPPF, which some have taken as a sign that MHCLG wanted to reintroduce the concept of disaggregation into the sequential test but has decided not to do so. However, the government’s response to the consultation suggests a different set of circumstances, creating a potentially further grey area.
The reference to disaggregation has now been removed in the final version due to concerns that it may “imply undue rigidity”. I expect the interpretation of the requirement for flexibility in the sequential test will be a theme in planning appeals and legal judgement in the future.
Overall, the headline message from the new NPPF is that the government's support for town centres is strong. Now, many of us are waiting to see how that support will translate into everyday decisions on development proposals both inside and outside of town centres.
At Nexus, we help clients navigate the evolving planning policy landscape, including the challenges and opportunities facing town centres. To discuss how the new NPPF could affect your retail project, get in touch using the details below.
This article was first published by Placemaking Resource on 28th September 2026:
https://www.placemakingresource.com/article/1971026/opinion-new-nppf-supporting-town-centres
