Holding the line – a partial win in the National Planning Policy Framework, August 2026

Posted on by Robbie Gillett

Summary: Adblock campaigners have been successful in preventing the total removal from the planning system of a key concept regarding the  “cumulative impacts” of outdoor advertising sites. The concept will be moved to the Planning Practice Guidance on Advertisements when it is next updated.

The UK government has published its revision of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – the document that guides all planning decisions in England.  (Planning in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.) 

Adblock activists were alarmed to see the removal of Paragraph 141 on outdoor advertisements proposed in the consultation – citing that this was the only place in the legislation, regulation, policy or planning practice guidance (all different parts of the planning regime) where the concept of “cumulative impacts” of having multiple billboards or digital screens in one place was mentioned.

Paragraph 141 in the former NPPF (December 2024 version) stated:

“The quality and character of places can suffer when advertisements are poorly sited and designed. A separate consent process within the planning system controls the display of advertisements, which should be operated in a way which is simple, efficient and effective. Advertisements should be subject to control only in the interests of amenity and public safety, taking account of cumulative impacts.”

Nearly 200 residents and campaigners responded to the government consultation with the welcome outcome that the concept of cumulative impacts will be moved to the Planning Practice Guidance on Advertisements. 

“The government notes the concerns about removing paragraph 141 on advertising controls. This text was removed because it repeated matters already set out in legislation; however, we recognise that the policy in paragraph 141 asked decision makers to consider cumulative impacts, which is in addition to the requirements set out in the Advertisement Regulations. As such, we can confirm we will update relevant Planning Practice Guidance to ask that decision makers take cumulative impacts into account when determining applications for advertisement consent.”

–> Government’s response to NPPF consultation (page 100), August 2026

Congratulations to everyone who contributed to this success of holding the line at a time when the government’s direction of travel regarding the planning system in general was deregulation and speed.

Our next steps must be to ensure that the Planning Practice Guidance on Advertisements is strengthened to reflect not only the concept of “cumulative impacts” but also the range of concerns that residents have regarding digital advertising screens in our neighbourhoods. These include the commercialisation of our public spaces, light pollution from digital screens and the impacts of corporate brands on smaller businesses in addition to the existing rules regarding harm to amenity and danger to public safety (particularly the distraction of digital billboards to road users).  

Planning Practice Guidance has equal footing to Planning Policy

The UK Court of Appeal has confirmed that national planning policy and national planning guidance have equal status in decision-making (court case: Mead vs MHCLG, March 2025). However, given that this ruling is relatively recent, understanding of this equal footing amongst planning officers in local councils who are often under-resourced, may be patchy. There is a prevailing view that planning guidance is subordinate to national planning policy. We encourage any residents objecting to planning applications for digital advertising screens to remind planning officers of this Mead vs MHCLG 2025 ruling.


Above: the primary and secondary legislation and the Planning Practice Guidance governing whether new outdoor advertising billboards are granted planning permission (correct as of August 2026)

Further reading:

Published by

Robbie Gillett