Locals control development under the NPPF, says Cameron

Cameron said in a television interview that the proposed NPPF would not pose a threat to the countryside and claimed that the reforms would give local communities more power than they have under the current system. Communities will be able to choose where they want development to take place, said Cameron.

The draft NPPF has been heavily criticised by campaigners, who argue that the policy is weighted too strongly in favour of development, without providing effective protection of the countryside.

Neighbourhood planning, enshrined in the Localism Act, would allow local communities to develop their own Local Plan which would be used as a blueprint for development in the area. The Local Plan would be agreed by local residents and could be used to prevent urban sprawl, said Cameron (starts at 8 minutes).

“Our reforms will make it easier for communities to say ‘we are not going to have big plonking housing estate landing next to the village, but we would like 10, 20, 30 extra houses and we would like them built in this way, to be built for local people’”, said  Cameron.

Through the draft  NPPF, the Government is seeking to simplify and reduce the current 1,000 plus pages of national planning policy to around 52 pages. Environmental groups claim that undesignated land will be at risk to development under the proposed NPPF.

"Undesignated countryside, which includes much of our natural heritage and historic landscapes, covers more than half of England," said the said the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

"Under existing national planning policy, local planning authorities are required to protect the natural environment, including the countryside, for the sake of its intrinsic character and beauty and this requirement should be retained in the draft NPPF" CPRE said.

CPRE has said that it welcomes the Government's assurances that policies to protect the Green Belt and nationally designated landscapes will be retained but require that these should be "made clearer" in the draft NPPF and that "potential loopholes in them should be closed".