<p><strong>Planning policy statement three (PPS3) <br></strong>PPS3 has now been published. It sets out national planning policies for housing, which regional planning bodies and local authorities should take into account when developing regional spatial and local development frameworks. It focuses on increasing land supply and giving local authorities more flexibility to influence the mix of new developments. Launching PPS3, housing minister Yvette Cooper said: “Just as the new PPS3 will be about bringing forward more land, so it will also ensure good design and a good mix of type and tenure.” Local authorities are now required to set out strategies to deliver housing provision including identifying broad locations and specific sites that will enable continuous development for at least 15 years. They are also now not permitted to reject planning applications on the basis of “prematurity”(when a local authority turns down an application because it has no development plan). But local authorities will have the power to prescribe the housing mix of new developments. The policy states that planning authorities should set out in local development documents the likely proportion of households that require market or affordable housing, the likely profile of household types requiring market housing, such as the percentage …