Rewrite planning rules to end 'confusion'

MPs are calling on the government to rewrite its controversial changes to planning rules in England, removing the default "yes" to development. Ministers say a simplified planning system is needed to boost growth and encourage sustainable development. But the Commons communities committee says in a report that a "fetish" with streamlining the planning process could slow it down by creating ambiguity. Planning Minister Greg Clark said he would carefully consider the findings. At the heart of the government's planning reforms is a "presumption in favour of sustainable development" which ministers say will boost house building and other economic growth while not harming communities, the environment or the countryside. Ministers have cut more than 1,000 pages of regulations down to just 52 to overcome planning delays which they claim cost the economy £3bn a year. But their draft plans provoked angry protests from groups including the National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, who are concerned that they could lead to a return to urban sprawl and damaging development. "Unhelpfully vague" Now the Commons communities and local government committee has warned that the changes risk becoming "unbalanced" and favouring "unsustainable development". The committee's Labour chairman Clive Betts said the so-called National Planning Policy Framework must be rewritten. There will now have to be significant changes to come up with a proper definition of sustainable development” End Quote Roberta Blackman-Woods Shadow local government minister "The way the framework is drafted currently gives the impression that greater emphasis should be given in planning decisions to economic growth," he told the BBC. "This undermines the equally important environmental and social elements of the planning system. "As currently drafted the default 'yes' to development also carries the risk of the planning system being used to implement unsustainable development." The report also warns there was a danger that far from speeding up the planning process, in the short term the changes would slow it down by introducing "confusion" where previously there was detailed guidance - and "planning by appeal" could be the outcome. The MPs said ministers had gone too far in cutting back existing planning guidance. "Critical wording has been lost and what remains is often unhelpfully vague," the report said. Ministers should produce "a tighter, clearer document, and should not make a fetish of how many pages it is". The committee also recommends that once the changes are finalised all planning advice is reviewed - item by item - "lest councils spend valuable time reinventing numerous wheels". "Strong condemnation" Campaigners against the planning overhaul have welcomed the MPs' report. Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, said the committee's report provided "irresistible pressure" on ministers to improve their plans. Government must stand firm and deliver a robust planning system that provides enough land to meet the nation's housing needs” End Quote Stewart Baseley Home Builders Federation "Along with nearly 230,000 people who signed our petition against the changes, the select committee has identified the clear changes that need to be made to the draft national planning policy framework so that it delivers a planning system that balances social and environmental needs with those of the economy," she said. For Labour, shadow local government minister Roberta Blackman-Woods called the report a "strong condemnation" of the government's plans. "It reflects what many of us have been saying," she said. "There will now have to be significant changes to come up with a proper definition of sustainable development." But the Home Builders Federation said permission was granted for just 32,900 new homes between July and September - just half of what was needed to meet housing demand. "These figures demonstrate clearly why government must stand firm and deliver a robust planning system that provides enough land to meet the nation's housing needs," executive chairman Stewart Baseley said. Mr Clark said he had invited the committee to make specific suggestions on the draft framework and was grateful for "the practical and measured way they have approached the exercise". "We are determined that the National Planning Policy Framework will put power into the hands of local people, through a simpler, clearer system, which safeguards our natural and historic environment while allowing the jobs and homes to be created that our country needs," he said.