ACS Chief Executive James Lowman has appeared before the Communities and Local Government Select Committee today on the operation of the National Planning Policy Framework and its impact on town centre investment.

During the session, Mr Lowman presented the findings of an independent review of the planning system which showed that 76% of the new retail floor space given planning approval since the new laws came into place in March 2012 have been located out of town.

The review, published at the end of 2013, concluded that the sequential and impact tests were not being applied effectively and that evidence based retail assessments were nothing more than advocacy documents promoting the case of the developers.

Other parties providing evidence in the session include the British Council of Shopping Centres, Energy UK and the John Lewis Partnership. The evidence session took place at 4:15pm and can be viewed in full on the Parliament website.