Planning reforms: David Cameron pledges to protect countryside

Prime minister writes to National Trust to reassure it that planning reforms will ensure ‘appropriate protections for our magnificent countryside’ David Cameron has written to the National Trust to reassure the organisation over proposals to shake up the planning system. The prime minister said new laws were designed to “achieve a balance” between the environmental, social and economic dimensions of developments, saying the “beautiful British landscape is a national treasure” and expressing determination to protect the UK’s “magnificent countryside”. “Poorly designed and poorly located development is in no one’s interest,” he wrote. The trust has been leading a campaign to oppose the reforms, which are currently the subject of consultation. Cameron’s letter, seen by the Daily Telegraph , reads: “Let me say at the outset that I absolutely share and admire your commitment to the countryside, and wholeheartedly agree that policymakers have an enormous responsibility to our environment. “Both as prime minister, as a rural constituency MP and as an individual, I have always believed that our beautiful British landscape is a national treasure. We should cherish and protect it for everyone’s benefit.” Ministers are pushing through plans to replace more than 1,000 pages of planning regulations with just 52 in the National Planning Policy Framework . The change is controversial because it writes into the rules a “presumption in favour of sustainable development”. Campaigners fear swaths of England could be concreted over as urban sprawl gathers pace. Cameron insisted sustainable development would be defined to include a reference to the environment and the social impact of proposed projects. He wrote: “Our reform proposals are intended to simplify the system, strengthen local participation and secure sustainable development. “I believe that sustainable development has environmental and social dimensions as well as an economic dimension, and we fully recognise the need for a balance between the three. “Indeed, the purpose of the planning system as a whole, and of our proposals for it, is to achieve such a balance.” Cameron added: “We must ensure the appropriate protections for our magnificent countryside. “This is why our reforms will maintain protections for the green belt, for national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. “It will introduce a new local green space designation which local communities can use to protect open places they value.” However, he also warned campaigners that new developments were essential to boost Britain’s stalling economy. He said businesses should be able to expand and that the difficulty encountered by first-time buyers in getting on the property ladder was “unacceptable”. Fiona Reynolds, the director general of the National Trust, welcomed the comments, saying: “Our primary concern for the planning system is that it should be a neutral framework which balances the needs of society, the environment, as well as the economy. “It is a great relief to hear from the prime minister that there is no intention to change this over-riding purpose. “We will now do everything in our power to help shape the National Planning Policy Framework into a robust system which enables the people making the decisions to guide good development to the right places. “Planning minister Greg Clark has invited us to work with him to ensure the detail of the document reflects this brief, and we are keen to do so.” David Cameron The National Trust Planning policy Rural affairs guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 21, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.