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Planning
Network UK: Response to the Barker Review of Land Use
Planning
Press Release
11.12.06
“At
its inaugural meeting on December 6th, PNUK, a new planning
network,
condemned the Barker Review of Planning saying that
it would erode the
very basis of sustainable development. It will cut back
on
environmental protection, reduce the rights of the public
to influence
development, and put the demands of developers above
those of ordinary
citizens.
The review
paints a negative picture of planning as holding back
development (as if for no reason). It says nothing about
the benefits
of good planning. It is one sided and serves vested
interests in the
world of commercial property.
There is
a fundamental contradiction at the heart of Government
planning
policy. One the one side it wants to speed up the system
so developers
and business get their planning permissions, on the
other, it expresses
a desire to protect the environment, improve the quality
of buildings
and take action over climate change. The Barker report,
speaking for
the Treasury, comes down on the side of business.
But we ask
who in Government is standing up for the environment,
for
quality development and the interests of citizens?
Sustainable
development was the Government’s own idea - and
it was a
good one. This is being ditched by Gordon Brown in favour
of macro
economic imperatives for investment and growth –
at any price. In other
words, the planning system is being directed to the
service of land and
property investors, instead of the public interest.
Some of the
proposals in the report are alarming – reducing
the right of
the public to make their case at planning appeals against
development
they believe damages their communities; doing away with
the needs test
for out of town retail development; and suggesting that
developers can
literally buy off protestors.
PNUK aims
to link up with national and local planning and environmental
organisations to fight the underlying values in the
report and its
specific proposals.
A planning
system that respects the environment and citizens is
our aim”
For more on this Release and on PNUK see <www.pnuk.org.uk>
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