Silkin Test


The Silkin Test is a UK planning policy designed to control major developments which will affect areas classified as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The three main criteria state that -
  1. it must be in the National interest;
  2. there is no practicable alternative to development in a National Park;
  3. must be built in a way that minimises detrimental effects on the environment.
The test was contained in Planning Policy Statement 7: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas
PPS7 has now been replaced by the National Planning Policy Framework, in which paras. 115/116 set out a differently-worded test.

History

The criteria were first proposed by the then Minister of Town and Country Planning, Lewis Silkin MP in 1949.

Notable applications