Economic growth and job creation should be put at the heart of national planning policy, the British Property Federation (BPF) has urged as it outlined 10 key areas that Government’s proposed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) must tackle.

A draft of the NPPF, announced as part of a shakeup of planning policy by the Planning Minister Greg Clark to streamline planning and give local communities more control over the planning system, is expected to be published in July before being formally adopted in April 2012.

Liz Peace, chief executive at the BPF, said: “The property industry is broadly in favour of paring back the planning system as it has become too large and unwieldy. However, this opportunity needs to be taken to ensure the NPPF reflects the importance of stimulating sustainable economic growth and job creation – the two most urgent priorities for this country.

“While it is right that the NPPF should highlight the importance of a plan-led approach to planning, we also think it should be flexible enough to accommodate the opportunity-led nature of much of the development that takes place.”

The BPF warned that the NPPF should spell out to Local Authorities that they must grant planning permissions if they have failed to produce an up-to-date local plan and the planning application in question conforms to the NPPF.