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Why do MPs remain silent over planning reforms? 

Then there is the scourge of wind farms, where protests are reaching critical mass – along with local groups, I have opposed five such projects in my constituency in the past few years. To prevent the continuing desecration of the countryside, it is vital that the advice given by the Planning Inspectorate to its inspectors on August 30 is amended. This puts undue emphasis on renewable and low-carbon energy – yet wind farms are a blot on the landscape. They are merely a cash cow for wealthy landowners, energy companies and developers, forcing consumers to pay for over-priced electricity and the destruction of the countryside – a double whammy.

Credit:  By Bill Cash, The Telegraph, www.telegraph.co.uk 27 September 2011 ~~

Silence is not always golden. Many MPs are increasingly disturbed by the Government’s planning reforms – but, as yet, they have remained relatively mute. Having signed up for plans they were told would stimulate growth, they now face increasing protests from their core supporters.

Part of the problem is that MPs were not given the complete picture at the right time. The planning framework was not even available for inspection until after the localism Bill had passed the House of Commons – Sir Humphrey would be proud, but many MPs feel justifiably aggrieved.

Later, as the debate developed, claims were made that, on closer inspection, did not stack up. For example, when the Prime Minister wrote to the National Trust on September 20, he repeated his promise to the Campaign to Protect Rural England in 2008 that “the beauty of our landscape, the particular cultures and traditions that rural life sustains, these are national treasures to be cherished and protected for everyone’s benefit”. Unfortunately, as the president of the Royal Town Planning Institute has indicated, the new planning framework and the Localism Bill will not achieve this objective unless major changes are made.

As the Prime Minister says, the current planning system is highly complex, and far from perfect. However, the massive 450-page new Bill, with all its additional rules and guidance, is a lawyer’s charter.

What are the particular problems? First, there is grave concern that local communities and residents will not get the safeguards that they were being promised. The Prime Minister speaks of “appropriate protections for our magnificent countryside”, and earmarks protection “for the green belt, for National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty”.

However, this is not the whole picture. For decades, our planning rules have protected all the countryside. Indeed, the beauty of our landscape and the quality of our heritage is why tourists come in their millions from all over the world, boosting our economy in the process.

The Government insists that local communities will be able to protect themselves by adopting neighbourhood plans. Yet under the Localism Bill, these would have to operate within the constraints of a legal presumption in favour of development. A plan will only be accepted when it complies with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), and with the local authority’s own plan (which must follow national guidance), and with our EU obligations, especially in terms of promoting renewable energy. As Gerald Vernon-Jackson, a Lib Dem councillor, told his party conference, the proposals “give the illusion of local involvement in planning” – but whatever arguments local conservation groups may put to the examiner, the cards will be stacked heavily in favour of development.

So how can the Localism Bill and the planning reforms be improved, to protect our landscape as a whole? First, ministers must set out, in clear and simple language, how local groups opposed to development plans can succeed in their objections, and how this will change under the Localism Bill compared with the present arrangements. The redevelopment of brownfield sites should be put ahead of greenfield sites. And the Government should accept Lord Marlesford’s important amendment in the Lords, which would impose an obligation on planners to protect and enhance the character of the countryside as a whole, to balance the assumption that economic development would generally prevail.

Then there is the scourge of wind farms, where protests are reaching critical mass – along with local groups, I have opposed five such projects in my constituency in the past few years. To prevent the continuing desecration of the countryside, it is vital that the advice given by the Planning Inspectorate to its inspectors on August 30 is amended. This puts undue emphasis on renewable and low-carbon energy – yet wind farms are a blot on the landscape. They are merely a cash cow for wealthy landowners, energy companies and developers, forcing consumers to pay for over-priced electricity and the destruction of the countryside – a double whammy.

As the proposals roll on, many MPs are nervously watching the effect of changing constituency boundaries, wind farm protests, and anti-development campaigns on their chances of reselection. Yet they largely remain silent, caught between the local activists who selected them, and who are besieged with complaints from an angry public, and a Government that is telling them to stick to current policy.

This situation will not endure unless the Government makes the necessary changes. It is no good arguing that the plans are still out for consultation – even though the draft NPPF is only meant to be effective from 2012, it is already being applied before the Localism Bill is passed. The framework even tells planning authorities to grant permission where the local plan is silent, or where its policies are regarded as out of date.

The Government must give councils breathing space to put new plans in place to avoid planning by appeal and a default “yes” to development. It must also table amendments in the Report stage, before the Localism Bill returns to the Commons for a final vote. The crunch is now, but it is still not too late. The Prime Minister should bear in mind the words of the poet John Clare: “O native endearments! I would not forsake ye … I would not forsake ye, dear valleys and greens.”

Bill Cash is MP for Stone, Staffordshire

Source:  By Bill Cash, The Telegraph, www.telegraph.co.uk 27 September 2011

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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