National Planning Policy Framework
In February 2012 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government first published the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), most recently updated in February 2025.
The document aims to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, to protect the environment and to promote sustainable growth. It sets out the government’s requirements for the planning system but only records what is relevant, proportionate and necessary to do so. It provides a framework for planning by replacing a thousand pages of national planning policies with a short guidance document of just over sixty pages. This is supported by a series of Planning Practice Guidance Notes (PPGs).
The NPPF does not specifically differentiate between historic buildings and archaeology but brings them together using the term heritage asset. A heritage asset can be a building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest. It includes designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authorities (including local listings)