The gathering forces of nimbyism are resorting to hyperbole and scare tactics. The new draft planning framework is not about making it easy to concrete over our green and pleasant land. It is about making more efficient the process whereby we try to meet the aspirations of our citizens to have decent places to live and prosperous businesses in which to work.
At the heart of the process is a local authority's own strategic plan, which the government is saying, not unreasonably, should take account of housing and employment demand, alongside the need to protect the environment. If proposals fit with this plan, they deserve to be passed quickly and easily without the bureaucracy we associate with the planning system. If they don't then they should be thrown out. That is what is meant by a presumption in favour of sustainable development.
Local authorities that have failed to produce an agreed local plan in the seven years since the relevant legislation was passed are laying themselves open to challenge from development. Perhaps they should be the target of the nimby campaign rather than a government that is trying to find a sensible and workable way out of economic crisis by encouraging sustainable development.
Increasing construction will not lead to the mass destruction of the countryside and Los Angles-style urban sprawl. The proposed National Planning Policy Framework isn't perfect but it is a move in the right direction.
Liz Peace is chief executive of the British Property Federation (www.bpf.org.uk)
In The Making of the British Landscape, the prehistorian, Francis Pryor, notes that "even though nearly everyone lives or works in a town or city, somehow Britain has managed to retain its uncluttered rural areas". This "huge achievement" is, he says, "almost entirely down to planning. Town and country planning… is now the single most important factor affecting the look of Britain. And we meddle with it at our peril."
The government is doing more then meddle. It is engaged in the biggest overhaul of the planning system for more than 60 years. In the words of George Osborne, there will be "a new presumption in favour of sustainable development", so that the default answer to development is "yes". No wonder the proposals have been met with horror by all environmental and conservation groups.
We need a planning system that is as speedy and cheap as it is compatible with sound decision-making. The present system must be reformed. Many more houses and a strong economy are vital. But there is no evidence that planning is standing in the way of growth or stopping us building homes. Moving away from the sort of strict planning controls that exist in Germany and towards a Greek-style planning system is not the solution.
David Cameron has allowed the Treasury to conduct a planning raid. For the sake of our quality of life, he must intervene in support of a planning system that serves the public interest, not just short-term economic thinking.
Shaun Spiers is chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (www.cpre.org.uk)
