On Friday (16/9) Simon Marsh, (RSPB Head of Planning) wrote in The Telegraph
Hands off our land: This isn't the planning policy that I drew up
Good planning should meet the needs of the people and the environment - and the Coalition's proposed reforms fall down badly.
What is our planning system for? That is the question the Government is grappling with through its reform of England’s planning rules – and the answer it has come up with is proving to be a lot more controversial than it expected.
The Daily Telegraph has taken up cudgels on behalf of those concerned that the proposed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will not protect our countryside from the march of urban sprawl. The public backlash is growing, as is the pressure on ministers to take a step back and reconsider where they are taking our planning system. With my background in planning and nature conservation, I was asked to help to write the new reforms. But I certainly cannot support the proposals on the table. The essence of good planning is meeting the needs of people, the economy and the environment – and these reforms are threatening that approach.
Greg Clark, the planning minister, invited four experts to write a first draft of the NPPF. As well as myself, from the environmental sector, there were three others drawn from the local authority sector, developers and the housebuilding industry, although we were all there in a personal capacity rather than representing the views of our organisations. It was a novel and challenging approach. Put four experts in a room who all think they are right and sparks will fly. Over five months we had plenty of lively debates as we battled over the text. Some battles I won, some I lost, and on others we found a compromise. By the end we had a succinct, but flawed document. After we published our draft, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) beavered away to turn it into an official government draft. That meant changes not only from them but from other departments across government, including those who don’t place a high value on either the environment or the planning system. With changes like that on top of a flawed draft, the result is a document that sets out a markedly different emphasis for the future planning system.
On Wednesday it was revealed that David Cameron had written to the National Trust
David Cameron: I promise to protect the countryside - Telegraph reports
David Cameron has personally intervened for the first time in the growing row over planning reform to assure campaigners that the environmental benefits of developments will be assessed before new projects are given permission.
The Prime Minister said that new planning laws would seek to “achieve a balance” between the environmental, social and economic dimensions of developments.
He insisted that he is committed to the “magnificent countryside” and said the “beautiful British landscape is a national treasure." "Poorly designed and poorly located development is in no one’s interest,” Mr Cameron added. The Prime Minister’s views on the Government’s controversial planning reforms are disclosed for the first time in a letter sent last night by Mr Cameron to the National Trust.
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