PRESS RELEASE

The Government’s newly-announced policy of concentrating new homes around train stations is right in principle, but Transport Action Network (TAN)¹ warns there are serious pitfalls that must be avoided.

The policy is contained in the updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), unveiled today (17 August 2026) by Communities Secretary Angela Rayner². The NPPF aims to speed up delivery of the 1.5 million new homes that the Government has promised to build during the current session of Parliament, while also supporting the economy, protecting the climate, natural environment and people’s health, and improving people’s quality of life.

TAN’s Chief Executive Abby Coften, said: “It is heartening that Ministers are now thinking more about how to build new homes without making us ever more dependent on driving, even for short day-to-day journeys. For too long, we have allowed house-builders to scatter homes across the countryside, where public transport is lacking and local schools, shops and other facilities cannot easily be reached by walking, wheeling or cycling. This adds to the motor traffic on our roads, with all the resulting problems for the economy, the environment and people’s quality of life, while also making life very difficult for young people and others who cannot drive.

She added: “Concentrating new homes near rail stations is therefore the right approach in principle. However, by giving a default ‘yes’ to new developments near stations, the Government risks forcing councils to agree to the first development proposal they receive for these crucial sites, rather than being able to get the best out of them. Councils need the freedom to secure funding from developers for other local transport improvements, and to make walking, wheeling and cycling as easy as possible too. This won’t happen if their negotiating hands are tied behind their backs.”

During the consultation on the draft NPPF, the Low Traffic Future alliance, coordinated by TAN, sent a joint letter to former Communities Secretary Steve Reed and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, signed by several environmental and local government organisations³. It voiced support in principle for the Government’s aim of “vision-led planning”, that had been introduced in previous editions of the NPPF to reduce dependence on motor vehicles, but pointed out that, in practice, councils were still being forced to give permission to car-dependent developments, for several reasons.

One reason is that the majority of under-resourced local councils do not have an up-to-date local development plan and are therefore vulnerable to ‘speculative development’, i.e. proposals to build homes in locations that are at odds with the council’s own planning policies. Another is there is insufficient clarity about how to test whether a proposed development is truly ‘vision-led’, i.e. will it reduce car-dependence or whether it will worsen it.

TAN therefore reiterates its call, made in the joint letter, for additional guidance to councils on how they should use the Department for Transport’s recently-developed ‘Connectivity Tool’⁴, to distinguish developments that are well-connected by walking, cycling and public transport, from those which would worsen car-dependence and the amount of motor traffic in the local area. The Government could still do this through a forthcoming Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) document on transport and new developments. However, it is disappointing that this has not been published at the same time as the NPPF itself.

Abby Coften added: “If the Government wants councils to build the right homes in the right places, it needs to help them prevent the continued spread of terribly-located homes in car-dependent places. These have created huge problems for the economy and the freedom of movement for young people and anyone else who does not drive, not to mention our health, nature and the climate. To reverse these trends, the Government must provide clear guidance on how to distinguish good from bad development, using its own Connectivity Tool. However, with 1.5 million new homes being planned during the current Parliament, it needs to act quickly to prevent the problem from getting worse before it gets better.”

ENDS

Notes for editors

1. Transport Action Network helps communities seek better, more sustainable transport. TAN supports more investment in public transport, active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling), well-maintained roads (i.e. fewer potholes) and better integration between transport and planning, while opposing spending on damaging new roads. TAN also hosts the Low Traffic Future alliance, which brings together environmental, health, road safety and sustainable transport groups to work for a less car-dependent future. ↩︎
2. The Government’s updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published today (17 August 2026), can be viewed here, along with a Government press release explaining how it has changed from the previous NPPF. It follows consultation on a draft NPPF from mid-December 2025 to mid-March 2026 – see TAN’s response to this consultation. ↩︎
3. In response to the consultation, the Low Traffic Future alliance coordinated a joint letter to the then Communities Secretary Steve Reed MP and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander MP – see here. It voiced support in principle for the government’s stated aim of less car-dependent ‘vision-led planning’, while highlighting the case of the recently-permitted Selwood Garden Community development, which exemplifies how the aims of ‘vision-led planning’ are still being frustrated in practice. It called for various changes to the NPPF to ensure better scrutiny and public accountability of development decisions, and for the Department for Transport’s Connectivity Tool to be given a stronger role in deciding which developments should be supported and which should not. ↩︎
4. The Connectivity Tool, developed by the Department for Transport, was launched in June 2025, to help councils, developers and local communities assess whether proposed development sites are well connected to key destinations, particularly by public transport, walking and cycling. The new NPPF encourages councils to use the Tool, but fails to clarify how they should distinguish developments that are ‘vision-led’ from those which are not, or how they can negotiate with developers to improve the connectivity of their proposed developments. ↩︎