New planning laws threaten village life

Author: Daily Telegraph   |  

Up to 16,000 villages small towns, villages and hamlets across England could be affected in a “fundamental shake-up” of rural planning policy.

Protecting the greenbelt will no longer be the key consideration as ministers prepare to sweep aside planning controls as part of the Government’s pledge to build three million new homes by 2020.

Farmers and other landowners will even be given incentives to sell land to developers and councils will be told to earmark new sites in every village and community where locals are struggling to afford homes.

The reforms are expected to be announced later this month after sources said housing secretary Margaret Beckett is ready to back a Government-commissioned report last year that was fiercely critical of “restrictive” planning policies in the countryside.

But countryside protection groups have warned any significant relaxation of planning curbs is unlikely to lead to sensitive development.

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