Storm over threat to countryside

When the Government first launched its bid to reform the planning system last July, business leaders were quick to support the move to slim down the rules.

But within 24 hours, conservation groups were warning that the proposed changes, which reduce more than 1,000 pages of planning policy to just 50, could lead to damaging countryside development not seen since the 1930s.

The plans fulfilled the Treasury’s promise for a default yes to development, setting out a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” which the Government says will allow growth without damage of the environment or communities.

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However, the National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) launched campaigns against the proposed reforms and found themselves embroiled in an increasingly antagonistic row with ministers.

During the consultation, those who spoke out against the plans found themselves attacked by leading Tories as “semi-hysterical”, “left-wingers” and of “nihilistic selfishness” for opposing new housing development.

The Government insisted that the green belt, national parks and other protected areas of the countryside would be safe, but the countryside campaigners said it was the “everyday places” people loved that they feared for.

Such unprotected countryside makes up more than half of England’s green space and the new rules put too much emphasis on short-term economic considerations, rather than environmental or social protection, they warned.

Eventually, Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to step in to the row to reassure the public that the “beautiful British landscape is a national treasure” which should be cherished and protected.