Ten of the biggest stories from the past week, including news that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has confirmed that councils should start using the government's new standard method for assessing housing need immediately when determining applications.

Local authorities without up-to-date local plans should start using the standard method when considering their housing land supply positions, the ministry added. More.

An inspector's recommendation that a Cambridgeshire council adopt a higher homes target based on the new National Planning Policy Framework's (NPPF's) standard housing need methodology could see its local plan "fail at its first hurdle", the local authority has said. More.

A leading planning silk has raised concerns that the revised National Planning Policy Framework's (NPPF) new policies aiming to boost design standards may be too subjective and are likely to result in prolonged arguments at committee meetings. More.

The Court of Appeal has overturned a secretary of state decision to refuse plans for 225 homes on a green gap in Hampshire, after the judge ruled the minister had wrongly found the council's housing supply shortfall to be "limited" rather than "significant". More.

Housing secretary James Brokenshire has overruled an inspector's recommendation to dismiss plans for up to 800 homes in Kent, despite uncertainty over funding arrangements for a local road improvement scheme. More.

A High Court judge has overturned an inspector's decision to block a Nottinghamshire council from recovering section 106 funds promised as part of a planning permission granted in 1998. More.

Planning inspectors have called on York City Council to address "significant concerns" about the authority's emerging local plan, particularly its housing target, before the document progresses to examination. More.

Plans have been approved for the demolition of grade II listed offices in Surrey and their replacement with 375 homes, after council planners concluded that the applicants had demonstrated a "clear and convincing justification" for the "high level of harm" arising from loss of the building. More.

A report by councils body the Local Government Association (LGA) has rejected claims that planning is to blame for delays in housing delivery, but calls on planners to adopt a "more positive outlook". More.

Countryside campaigners have accused the government of failing to protect the countryside after finding that the number of homes proposed on sites due to be released from the green belt across England is almost 460,000, almost six times the figure for 2012. More. 

Source: Planning Resource