Rural retreat

Bearing in mind the Prime Minister’s Oxfordshire constituency, this might be understandable. But it is to be hoped that Mr Cameron feels as strongly about other areas of rural beauty, notably East Yorkshire and the banks of the River Nidd in North Yorkshire. For all are under threat under the Government’s new planning guidelines.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England points out that such areas – which, unlike green belt, are undesignated for any specific purpose – have no protection at all from the increased risk of development arising from reforms to the planning process.

Of course, there are many who contend that lobbyists such as the CPRE refuse to countenance any sort of development and would rather wrap rural England in a protective straitjacket than witness the arrival of housing and employment for which many areas of the countryside are crying out.

But that is not the point. For the Government, in trying to loosen the grip that red tape has had on planning, has produced a draft policy with a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” that is so vaguely worded as to be virtually meaningless.

The danger is that, unless this is carefully redrafted, a development free-for-all will gather pace, with undesignated land – which accounts for more than half the countryside – bearing the brunt of this, while brownfield land in urban centres – usually far more expensive to develop – goes to waste. If Mr Cameron really wants to protect his beloved Oxfordshire, therefore, he needs to think again.