Planning reforms ‘will ride roughshod over local areas’

BORIS JOHNSON’S planning reforms will allow developers to “ride roughshod” over local communities, more than a dozen bodies representing councils, planners and conservation groups say today.

The 16 groups including the leaders of the Local Government Association, countryside charity the CPRE, the Town and Country Planning Association and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation warn the Prime Minister “to keep planning in England local” to ensure people have a say over development in their communities.

The letter is published after Mr Johnson used a speech at the end of last month to unveil the “most radical” reforms of the planning system since the end of the Second World War, pledging to “build a more beautiful” country.

In their letter to The Daily Telegraph today, they say: “Nine in 10 planning applications are approved by councils, while more than a million homes given planning permission in the last decade have not yet been built. Taking further planning powers away from communities and councils will only deprive them of the ability to define the area they live in and know best and risks giving developers the freedom to ride roughshod over local areas. If the country is to come back stronger from Covid-19, then local communities must be at the heart of the recovery.”

The group adds that it should be communities – not central Government – which “drive the national recovery”, adding: “People want their local area to have high-quality, affordable

‘If the country is to come back stronger from Covid-19, then local communities must be at the heart of the recovery’

homes built in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure, providing enough schools, promoting greener travel and tackling climate change.

“This can only be achieved through a local planning system with public participation at its heart, enabling councils to make places resilient, prosperous and capable of meeting the needs of their communities. It means beautiful areas and better homes. We urge the UK Government to keep planning in England ‘local’.”

sir – Covid-19 has demonstrated the incredible spirit of communities uniting to support each other and fight this deadly virus.

It should be they who drive the national recovery, with the power and voice to shape their local area so that it is a place in which they are proud to live, work and enjoy their time, and where everyone has an opportunity to reach their full potential.

People want their local area to have high-quality, affordable homes built in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure, providing enough schools, promoting greener travel and tackling climate change.

This can only be achieved through a local planning system with public participation at its heart, enabling councils to make places resilient, prosperous and capable of meeting the needs of their communities. It means beautiful areas and better homes.

We urge the UK Government to keep planning in England local.

Any suggestion that planning is a barrier to house-building is a myth. Nine in 10 planning applications are approved by councils, while more than a million homes given planning permission in the last decade have not yet been built.

Taking further planning powers away from communities and councils will only deprive them of the ability to define the area they live in and know best. It risks giving developers the freedom to ride roughshod over local areas.

If the country is to come back stronger from Covid-19 then local communities must be at the heart of the recovery.

Councillor James Jamieson

Chairman, Local Government Association

Fiona Howie

Chief Executive, Town and Country Planning Association

Seán O’reilly

Director, Institute of Historic Building Conservation

Alan Jones

President, Royal Institute of British Architects and 12 others; see telegraph.co.uk