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Press Release

Barker Facing Two Ways, Says CPRE

04.07.06

Responding to Kate Barker’s Interim Report for her Review of Land Use Planning, CPRE spokesman Nicholas Schoon said today:

‘It’s as if this report was written by two people facing in opposite directions. One of the writers appears to recognise the critical role of our planning system in protecting the environment for the benefit of us all, and in moving us towards sustainable development.

‘The other writer appears to be a Treasury apparatchik hell bent on weakening the planning system in order to deliver a development boom for footloose international capital, whatever the cost to the environment and the countryside.

‘But at least Kate Barker’s interim report recognises that the planning system has improved greatly in recent years from the point of view of planning applicants, speeding up decisions.

‘We will try to influence her final report so that its recommendations do not undermine the planning system’s ability to protect the environment and countryside in the long term, whilst strongly favouring urban regeneration and giving local communities what they want. The environmental challenges we’re facing can only grow and we’ll need a robust planning system to cope with them.

‘We will also question her estimate of how much of England is urbanised - we think she has underestimated this by as much as a third.’



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