The people in the north of England need these green spaces for their wellbeing.”Īs well as criticism from countryside campaigners who say the changes would result in “rural spread”, the government has been condemned for failing to put forward legislation to improve regulation of social housing. However, the Lancashire, Liverpool city region and Greater Manchester branch of the CPRE charity, which lobbies to protect the countryside, described the planned reforms as an “utter disaster”, with chair Debra McConnell saying: “We will see a lot more houses on greenfield land and in areas of outstanding natural beauty. Ministers had aimed to use the loosening of planning regulations, which have been in place since 1947, to boost home ownership in areas of rising Conservative support in northern England and the Midlands, as well as using post-Brexit freedoms to “simplify … environmental assessments for developments”. Our response to the consultation will be released in due course.”Īnnouncing the planning bill, the government had pledged it would create “simpler, faster procedures for producing local development plans, approving major schemes, assessing environmental impacts and negotiating affordable housing and infrastructure contributions”. Local communities need a stronger right to be heard in local decisions brownfield sites must automatically be developed first to help protect local green spaces and our green belts in the fight against climate change, and young people and key workers desperately need more funding for rural affordable homes.”Ī spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We will not comment on speculation. He added: “The government must not shy away from overhauling a tired planning system to make it fit for the multiple challenges of the 21st century. Tom Fyans, the deputy chief executive of CPRE, the countryside charity, said that if the reports were correct “some of the most damaging proposals of what was a top-down developers’ charter have been rightly binned” and dubbed the move a “victory for common sense”. The new laws would have given councils mandatory housebuilding targets and stopped homeowners from being able to object to planning applications through a zonal system. In the run-up to the vote, the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, said that if his party gained the Buckinghamshire constituency, which had formerly been a safe seat for the Conservatives, it would be “a massive mandate for those of us who were campaigning against the planning reforms”.Īccording to a report in the Times, the proposals will be abandoned in light of the backlash from southern voters and MPs. News that the plans could be scrapped follows the Conservatives’ shock defeat in the Chesham & Amersham byelection to the Liberal Democrats in June, which was blamed by some Tory MPs on the new laws. The planning reforms have been met with criticism from countryside campaigners, who said the changes would lead to the “suburbanisation” of green areas without delivering much-needed affordable housing.
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