Now MPs call for rethink on relaxation of planning laws in bid to preserve countryside

Communities Secretary 'tipping balance too much in favour of economic growth'



Under fire: A draft planning policy by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles (above) has been accused of threatening the countryside

Controversial planning reforms should be watered down to preserve the countryside, a group of influential MPs said yesterday.

Members of the Communities and Local Government Committee insisted the scheme to tilt the planning system in favour of ‘sustainable’ development would undermine the environment.

Its criticisms of Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and his draft National Planning Policy Framework were seized on by campaign groups and charities who have spent months trying to overturn the proposals.

The National Trust declared there was now ‘irresistible pressure’ on ministers to change the reforms; the Campaign to Protect Rural England said there must be ‘substantial changes’; and a Labour shadow minister labelled the MPs’ verdict ‘a vindication of all the campaigners who have fought so hard’.

The reforms, an attempt to simplify 1,000 pages of planning regulations, were criticised for asking councils to observe a ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’.

Campaign groups said this meant local objectors would no longer be able to halt or delay controversial building projects.

Labour MP Clive Betts, the committee’s chairman, said yesterday: ‘The way the framework is drafted gives the impression greater emphasis should be given in planning decisions to economic growth.

‘This undermines the equally important environmental and social elements of the planning system.’

Committee members said the presumption that all planning applications should be approved unless the adverse effects ‘significantly and demonstrably’ outweigh the benefits should be rewritten.

The system should also put the burden on developers to prove a scheme will not do significant harm, rather than on the local planning authority to prove otherwise.

Critics: Communities and Local Government Committee chairman Clive Betts (left) and Dame Reynolds, director general of the National Trust (right), say more balance needs to be given to social and environmental considerations



Kate Houghton, of the CPRE, said: ‘The Government must now make substantial changes to its proposed planning policies if we are to get the efficient, locally oriented and environmentally sensitive system we believe ministers want.’

The director general of the National Trust, Dame Fiona Reynolds, said: ‘The committee has identified the clear changes that need to be made so it delivers a planning system that balances social and environmental needs with those of the economy.’

And Labour’s shadow local government spokesman, Roberta Blackman-Woods, insisted: ‘This is a strong condemnation of the framework by the select committee and a vindication of all the campaigners who have fought so hard.’