Planning Policy has Undervalued the Countryside

National planning policy has undervalued the countryside and failed to meet the needs of rural areas for years – according to the CLA, the Country Land and Business Association.

The CLA has now thrown its weights behind the Government’s attempt to rebalance sustainable development in its consultation response to the draft National Planning Policy Framework. The Association warns that if the preservationist lobby gets its way, there is a risk that the 90 percent of countryside currently not built on will simply close down due a lack of inward investment.

CLA South West Director, John Mortimer, said: “Rural businesses and communities have the same needs for jobs, homes and services that urban areas have - but rural England has suffered from urban-centric policies for decades, leading to a countryside that is less sustainable and less self-sufficient.”
The CLA, he said, strongly supported the Government’s attempt to rebalance the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development. The draft NPPF proposes that each pillar should be given equal weight in all planning decisions.
What is needed is a clearly-worded planning policy that encourages a living and working countryside. Management of the landscape and biodiversity so cherished by the public will only happen if it is underpinned by a profitable, sustainable and broader rural economy.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. Read the CLA’s full response to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation

2. The CLA is one of the founding members of the Rural Coalition. The Coalition was brought together by the now defunct Commission for Rural Communities to implement the recommendations made in the Taylor Report “Living Working Countryside”. The group produced its own report entitled “Rural Challenge” in 2010 which set out to show what rural communities need in order to survive. Please visit the CLA website for more information.

3. For more information about the CLA, visit: www.cla.org.uk or follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/CLAtweets

4. For Further information on this press release, please contact Paul Millard CLA SW Communications Manager on 01380 830179.