Daily Telegraph: "Top civil servant lands planning job"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Richard McCarthy, a director-general at the Department for Communities and Local Government, is joining Capita Symonds, which advises major developers on planning and construction. 

"The department said he was leaving his £180,000-a-year post after bringing about 'major changes in planning'. 

"John Mann, a Labour MP, said Mr McCarthy’s move was 'wholly unacceptable' and risked a major conflict of interest."

Daily Telegraph: "Planning reforms already having an impact on countryside"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Planning officials have cited the Government's proposed changes to the planning system in a series of contentious decisions even though the new guidelines have yet to come into force. 

"The disclosure shows that the new 'presumption in favour of development' and the end of the 'brownfield first' rule in the current system which limits development in rural areas are being used already to decide whether building goes ahead."

BBC: "What would Britain look like without a green belt?"

Link to BBC web site

"Plans to speed up England's planning process put the green belt at risk, campaigners warn. But what would the country look like without such a system?

"For its supporters it has preserved cherished landscapes and the British way of life. Its critics claim it has hindered development, stifled growth and fuelled house price inflation.

"Its advocates say that, without the protection it has afforded, cities like London would expand ever-outwards, subsuming smaller settlements beyond its boundaries such as Hertford and Guildford. Opponents say other European countries have managed to prevent this kind of urban creep without green belt policies."

'Rejoin the two branches of the Northern Line,' say campaigners

Link to 2-sided PDF leaflet
(ignore any incorrect 'unsafe web site' message)

"Barnet Council has predicted over 29,000 extra cars every working day at Brent Cross Cricklewood (including West Hendon). This means massive jams!

"Whatever the figure, it is not possible to build 14-million square feet of shops, offices, and homes at Brent Cross, plus MORE at Colindale, plus MORE at Mill Hill East, without creating huge road congestion across Barnet."

Daily Telegraph: "Green belt will have 'no protection' despite promises of ministers"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Researchers at the independent House of Commons library have said that the Government’s legal presumption in favour of sustainable development will apply 'even within the green belt'.

"The framework’s legal presumption tells councils to 'plan positively for new development, and approve all individual proposals wherever possible'. It has led to warnings over unrestrained development, and is being opposed by groups including the National Trust and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England."

Sunday Telegraph: "Flight to countryside fuels housing problem"

Link to Sunday Telegraph

"The current struggle between ministers and the rural lobby over the future of planning in England is a real 'culture war'. 

"It is a stand-off between protectors of the countryside and a Government which believes existing plans stifle economic growth and, in particular, house-building.

"The past success of the lobby to protect the countryside has had the effect of making it even more desirable. Cities are often seen as dangerous and cramped places to live."

Dalily Telegraph's Matt on Planning Changes

BBC: "Barnet FC blasts council on Copthall stadium plans"

Link to BBC London

"The chairman of Barnet Football Club has criticised the borough over plans for the redevelopment of a stadium.

"Tony Kleanthous said Barnet Council had made it impossible for the League Two side to move to the Copthall stadium in north London.

"Responding to Barnet FC's claims, Councillor Richard Cornelius, Leader of Barnet Council, simply said: 'Rubbish'."

Watford Observer: "Saracens submit revised £18m planning application for Copthall as Barnet issue angry statement"

(Sarries chief executive Edward Griffiths) 
Link to Watford Observer

" Saracens have submitted a revised planning application for Copthall, which will involve investing £18m into reviving the stadium.

"Barnet issued a statement today on their website criticising Barnet Council, and accusing them of trying to 'push football out of the area and move rugby in'."

Daily Telegraph: "Planning reforms: George Osborne says 'We are determined to win this battle'."

Link to Daily Telegraph

"The Chancellor defended the controversial changes to planning reforms, that campaigners claim will damage the countryside, as 'key to our economic recovery'.

"Planning delays cost the economy up to £3bn a year, and reform is 'imperative' to kick-start growth to Britain’s faltering economy."

The Observer: Planning Changes

(Mary Creagh, Labour's environment spokesman)

Link to The Observer

"Campaigners and grassroots Tories fear excessive development under the new Draft National Planning Policy Framework, which was published in July and features a presumption in favour of 'sustainable development"'

"Fiona Reynolds, director of the 3.5 million-member National Trust, has called for a fundamental rethink of the reforms. 'We firmly believe that the government has got its proposals for planning reform wrong,' she said.

"As the Observer reports today, Britain's leading countryside campaigner, the author Bill Bryson, has now added his voiced to the chorus, increasing the pressure for a U-turn."

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(Bill Bryson, president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England)

Link to The Observer

"Britain's leading countryside campaigner, Bill Bryson, has joined a growing wave of opposition to government moves to shake up planning laws.

"As groups from the National Trust to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds line up against proposals to ease new development across the country, Bryson told the Observer he was deeply concerned by the direction of policy.

" 'The government's good intentions risk being undermined by the talk of economic growth at any cost,' said the American writer, who champions the English countryside and is president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). 'We are deeply worried to learn that environmental laws are regarded as red tape and that the planning system might be weakened to allow for more development'."

Evening Standard: "Warning over green space plans"

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"New plans for designating green spaces could mean communities lose out on being able to protect local areas they cherish, the UK's oldest conservation organisation has warned.

"The Open Spaces Society is concerned that ministers are set to weaken, abolish or completely change the rules that allow people to register a local space as a new 'village green' if they have used it for recreation for more than 20 years."