Dear Mr Owen,
Thank you for your email of 3 July to the Planning Minister, Nick Boles, about development in the countryside. The Minister was grateful for your positive views and has asked me to reply.
Whilst this Government does not set top-down housing targets, or ask local authorities to build more homes than they need, it has been equally clear in the National Planning Policy Framework that councils need to plan to meet the full needs of their communities for all types of housing in their area. The Framework therefore promotes a positive approach to development, which makes clear that development which is sustainable should go ahead without delay.
Through the Growth and Infrastructure Act, the Government has also introduced practical planning reforms, aimed at further improving processes and removing unnecessary bureaucracy. They include measures to ensure that councils meet minimum performance standards for deciding applications – helping to avoid delays that are unfair to both local residents and applicants.
The Government certainly does not want to see more open land developed than is necessary, but we have a simple choice. We can decide to ignore the misery of young families forced to grow up in flats with no outside space, and of working men and women in their twenties and thirties who have to live with their parents or share bedrooms with friends. Or we can accept that we are going to have to build on some previously undeveloped land and resolve that we will make these decisions locally. We should also keep the amount of development needed in perspective: 8.9% of England is built up, compared to 40% being covered by protective designations.
Thank you, once again, for writing.
Yours sincerely,
'via Blog this'
