Planning changes threaten Dales says Tory MP

Current wording is too vague and could lead to “conflict and potentially gridlock in the system”, Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith has warned in a letter to Local Government Minister Greg Clark.

His intervention comes amid a fierce battle with Ministers pitted against green groups including the National Trust as they seek to simplify planning laws.

The draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has cut more than 1,000 pages of policy to just 52, but the inclusion of a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” has raised fears for protected land, with campaigners claiming it would lead to the “concreting over” of the Green Belt.

Mr Smith welcomed the attempt to simplify the rules but said changes need to be made before they are finalised – particularly over concerns there is a lack of protection for greenfield sites.

“We have significant amounts of greenfield and there is a very strong feeling that green space and greenfields should be protected and that a brownfield first policy should be adopted in the revised framework,” he said.

“Whilst the protections for selected green spaces are present in the current document these go nowhere near far enough to protect the green and pleasant land across my constituency.”

Ministers have already insisted they will listen to concerns during the current consultation, but insist changes are needed to stop vital developments being blocked.

In a Westminster debate on local government, Junior Minister Andrew Stunell claimed: “Far from weakening environmental protections, our planning reforms will tend to strengthen them.”