Regeneration Britain

‘In the times of a worrying economy, local councils look increasingly to re-claiming aban-doned spaces. But are all brown field sites suit-able for r e d e v e l -opment?’

Planning minister Greg Clark said the changes in England were “ab-solutely crucial” but he also agreed to talk to opponents of the proposals.He said “particular aspects” could be addressed if groups such as the National Trust felt they were unclear.Shadow communities minister Jack Dromey said he welcomed the government’s willingness to talk.Mr Clark said the government would not back down on its aim to boost house-building and encourage business.Campaigners say they fear excessive development un-der the Draft National Planning Policy Framework.

The plan, published in July, streamlines policy that is currently more than 1,000 pages down to just 52 and features a presumption of “sustainable development”.

The Department for Communities and Local Government says it intends to transform a system whose “volume and complex-

ity have made planning increasingly inaccessible to all but specialists”.

But the National Trust said the plans “failed to protect the everyday places that local commu-

nities love” while the Campaign to Protect Rural England said the government

needed “to listen and make further improvements or the consequences

for the English countryside and the character of our towns and vil-

lages will be grave”.

‘Good for business’

‘Greg Clark defends reforms to the current system’

Greg Clark de-fends reforms to

the current systemMr Clark told the BBC it was “absolutely cru-cial” for the government to simplify planning processes so that homes could be built and to encourage business.“We’re building fewer homes than can accom-modate young people that need to be housed, we’ve got a problem of home-lessness, overcrowding, poverty as rents rise.“For companies ex-panding or relocating they need a new build-ing and it’s crucial that when they’re thinking of Britain as a place to relocate they know they won’t have to wait

years with vast ex-pense and uncertainty.”The housing minister denied there would be any backtracking on the plans, despite his agreement to hold talks.He said it was “quite right” to consult be-cause of the extent of the changes, and invited op-ponents to be very spe-cific about any concerns.“Let’s be forensic about this - if there are partic-ular aspects or sentences that you don’t think ex-press clearly enough the protections that are there, then let’s talk about it.

Tory-led government are offering is a downgrad-ing of the rules which protect our natural envi-ronment.”Mr Clark also criticised the National Trust for using pictures of Los Angeles in its campaign against the plans.He said that such large-scale urban sprawl was “not going to happen here” and reiterated the government’s commitment to protect the green belt,

national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty.Councils would also have more responsibility under the new regime - which would mean bet-ter planning decisions, argued Mr Clark.Shaun Spiers, the

chief executive of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, rejected Mr Clark’s assurances and said the proposals would give too much say to developers.“What the government is talking about is a pre-

sumption in favour of

sus-

tainable development, but if you read the National Planning Policy Framework in its draft form, what is clear is that is a presumption in favour of develop-ment, and at every point sustainability is under-mined.“What they’re really talking about is a policy of ‘build, build, build’. This is about economic development. It’s about prosperity over people

and places.”Peter Nixon, the

National Trust’s direc-tor of conservation, welcomed Mr Clark’s invitation to hold talks but also criticised the changes.He told the Times

newspaper that the government had the right “aspirations” but the proposals currently did not allow planning authorities to make de-cisions in a “balanced

way”.