PPG updates on brownfield land

Planning Practice Guidance updates confirm that when determining proposals for brownfield land within settlements, decision-makers will need to take account of NPPF paragraph 125(c), alongside other policies within the NPPF taken as a whole. Where a proposal would cause less than substantial harm to the significance of a designated heritage asset, paragraph 215 (which requires the public benefits of the proposals to be weighed against the less than substantial harm) would still need to be applied. Where relevant, decision makers will need to provide a clear articulation of how paragraph 125(c) has been demonstrably considered and applied alongside other policies.

The updated PPG states that the purpose of preserving the setting and special character of historic towns ‘relates to historic towns not villages. Where there are no historic towns in the plan area, it may not be necessary to provide detailed assessments against this purpose’. So while historic towns are not defined explicitly, it is now clear that the term does not include villages (Para: 005, Reference ID: 64-005-20250225).

This article originally appeared in the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s (IHBC’s) Context 184, published in June 2025.

--Institute of Historic Building Conservation

Related articles on Designing Buildings Conservation.

• Brownfield land.
• Conservation area.
• Conservation.
• Heritage.
• Historic environment.
• IHBC articles.
• IHBC.
• NPPF.
• Planning Policy Guidance.