Planning reforms ‘failing to protect’ green belt

RURAL campaigners have attacked Government planning reforms for leaving communities “increasingly powerless” to stop damaging development in the countryside and even the green belt.
George OsborneGeorge Osborne
George Osborne

The first year of the reforms have seen major housing schemes on greenfield sites given the go-ahead despite local opposition, while fewer affordable houses are set to be built, a report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said.

The new national planning policy framework (NPPF) was described by the Government as returning power to local communities for sustainable development in their area.

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But analysis shows 20 major housing schemes in open countryside have been given the green light despite being previously refused by the local authority, or not being in line with local plans setting out development for the area, the CPRE said.

A requirement that councils outline five years of “deliverable” land for new housing is being used to justify development on greenfield sites instead of brownfield sites, because they are more economically viable for developers.

The reforms also mean an estimated 10,000 affordable homes which local communities need will not be built.

In order to meet the targets for five years of new housing being imposed on them, some councils are being forced to allocate more greenfield areas than originally intended and even green belt land for development, the CPRE claimed.

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The CPRE also pointed to an interview with Chancellor George Osborne last year, where he called for more “swapping” of green belt land, to permit building on the green belt, with other land taken into the green belt in compensation.

But the campaigners’ report raised concerns that such an approach undermined the permanence of the green belt and its role in encouraging urban regeneration.

It also said that under the new planning framework, creation of new green belt is much harder than the removal of the designation.

CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers said: “CPRE has closely observed how the NPPF is being implemented on the ground and what we have seen is deeply disturbing.

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“Despite the rhetoric of localism, it now seems that local communities are increasingly powerless to prevent damaging development even in the most sensitive locations.”

A Communities Department spokesman said: “The framework is clear that very strong protections are in place to safeguard the green belt and protect other areas, such as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and that local plans are at the heart of the planning system.

“There have been more than 2,300 major residential decisions made through the planning system since the introduction of the framework and to focus on just tens of cases and claim they are in some way representative is not credible.

“New rights ensure communities have a bigger say on development then ever before through neighbourhood and local plans, and councils should focus on getting up-to-date locally-decided plans in place.

“Seven out of 10 councils now have published plans compared to three out of 10 previously, and good progress is being made across the remainder.”

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