Government planning reforms ‘would devastate the local planning system’

COUNTRYSIDE campaigners CPRE Oxfordshire, have said that they believe that government planning reforms would significantly undermine local democracy and put the countryside at risk.

The government’s Planning for the Future White Paper is out for consultation until  October 29, and a  further consultation on changes to the way housing numbers are calculated closes on October 1.

Helen Marshall, Director, CPRE Oxfordshire, said: “We think planning is best done at a local level, allowing people to have a say over both the quantity and quality of development and to hold their locally elected representatives to account. That’s the best way to develop real communities, with the right housing in the right place. By contrast, these reforms would centralise the system to the point that we might not even be able to decide the colour of the doors, although we do know there will be an awful lot of them!”

Key changes include:

• A top-down imposition of housing numbers – a national Government target would be allocated to local authorities on the basis of an algorithim committing Oxfordshire to exponential growth.
• Community engagement would be largely restricted to the Local Plan making stage (as it stands, just one six-week consultation), with the public thereafter losing their ability to scrutinise most individual planning applications.
• The introduction of a zonal planning system also raises questions. Would the zoning have to take more account of the number of houses to be built than it would of the need to protect the environment? How could broad brush zoning work in a crowded island where environmental assets are mingled with development? How will it impact on broader plans such as Oxfordshire 2050?  How will our Neighbourhood Plans be affected? None of these matters are addressed, CPRE states.
• Development management policies, which cover issues such as noise, air and light pollution, rights of way and heritage, would all be set centrally with no apparent scope for local place-based planning.
• New settlements, such as garden towns and villages, would be taken out of the Local Plan system and be considered under national infrastructure rules – this would mean limited local say on any future projects like the settlements proposed at Eynsham or Chalgrove in Oxforshire.

CPRE Oxfordshire is urging people to respond to the consultation and share concerns with local MPs.  

Full details are available on the website:  www.cpreoxon.org.uk

There is also a National CPRE petition:  Don’t de-regulate planning