‘Regeneration Britain’‘In the times of a worrying economy, local councils look increasingly to reclaiming abandoned spaces. But are all brown field sites suitable for redevelop-

ment?’

Planning minister Greg Clark said the changes in England were “absolute-ly crucial” but he also agreed to talk to oppo-nents of the proposals.

He said “particular as-pects” could be ad-dressed if groups such as the National Trust felt they were unclear.

SHADOW COMUNITY MINISTER Jack Dromey said he welcomed the government’s willingness

to talk.

Mr Clark said the government would not back down on its aim to boost house-building and encourage

business.

The plan, published in July, streamlines policy that is currently more than 1,000 pages down to just 52 and features a presumption of “sus-tainable development”.

The Department for Com-munities and Local Gov-ernment says it in-

tends to transform a system whose “volume and complexity have made planning increas-ingly inaccessible to all but specialists”.

But the National Trust said the plans “failed to protect the everyday places that local com-munities love” while

the Campaign to Pro-tect Rural England said the government needed

“to listen and make further improvements or the consequences for the English country-side and the character of our towns and vil-lages will be grave”.

“Labour is in favour of sustainable development - but what the Tory-led government are offering is a downgrad-ing of the rules which protect our natural environment.”

‘Good for business’

Greg Clark defends reforms to the current systemMr Clark told the BBC it was “absolutely crucial” for the government to simplify planning processes so that homes could

be built and to encourage business.

“We’re building fewer homes than can accommodate young people that need to be housed, we’ve got a problem of homelessness,

overcrowding, poverty as rents rise.“For companies expanding or relocating they need a new build-ing and it’s crucial that when they’re thinking of Britain as a place to relocate they know they won’t have to wait years

with vast expense and uncertainty.”

The housing minister denied there would be any backtracking on the plans, despite his agreement to hold talks.

Mr Clark also criticised the National Trust for using pictures of Los Ange-les in its campaign against the plans.

He said that such large-scale ur-ban sprawl was “not going to hap-pen here” and reiterated the gov-ernment’s commitment to protect the green belt, national parks and ar-eas of outstanding natural beauty.Councils would also have more re-sponsibility under the new regime - which would mean better plan-ning decisions, argued Mr Clark.Shaun Spiers, the chief executive of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, rejected Mr Clark’s assurances and said the proposals would give too much say to developers.

“What the government is talking about is a presumption in favour of sustainable development, but if you read the National Planning Policy Framework in its draft form, what is clear is that is a presumption in favour of development, and at every point sustainability is undermined.“What they’re really talk-ing about is a policy of ‘build, build, build’. This is about eco-nomic development. It’s about pros-perity over people and places.”

“What the govern-ment is talking abo“What the gov-ernment is talking about is a presump-tion in favour of sustainable devel-opment, but if you read the National Planning Policy Framework in its draft form, what is clear is that is a presumption in fa-vour of develop-ment, and at every point sustainabil-ity is undermined.“What they’re real-ly talking about is a policy of ‘build, build, build’. This is about eco-nomic development. It’s about pros-perity over peo-ple and places.”ut is a presump-tion in favour of sustainable devel-opment, but if you read the National Planning Policy Framework in its

draft form, what is clear is that is a presumption in fa-vour of develop-ment, and at every point sustainabil-ity is undermined.

“What they’re real-ly talking about is a policy of ‘build, build, build’. This is about eco-nomic development. It’s about pros-perity over peo-ple and places.”

Peter Nixon, the National Trust’s director of conser-vation, welcomed Mr Clark’s invita-tion to hold talks but also criti-cised the changes.He told the Times newspaper that the government had the right “aspira-tions” but the pro-posals currently did not allow plan-ning authorities to