11th November 2011, 08:26 AM
Planning figures are two decades old
Claims by the Government that planning delays are costing the economy billions of pounds every year are based on figures that are nearly two decades old.
Chancellor George Osborne has justified controversial changes to planning rules by saying that planning delays cost the UK ?3 billion a year.
However, it has emerged that the ?3 billion figure is based on an estimate by the Confederation of British Industry in 1992.
Yesterday MPs on the communities and local government committee said the figure was a ?fiction?.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) distils 1,300 pages of planning guidance into as few as 52 and writes into planning rules a ?presumption in favour of sustainable development?, without defining what it means.
Groups including the National Trust are concerned that the plans could give developers the right to build across large parts of rural England. The Daily Telegraph has launched a campaign calling for the changes to be revisited.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpo...s-old.html
The Telegraph is on the case
Claims by the Government that planning delays are costing the economy billions of pounds every year are based on figures that are nearly two decades old.
Chancellor George Osborne has justified controversial changes to planning rules by saying that planning delays cost the UK ?3 billion a year.
However, it has emerged that the ?3 billion figure is based on an estimate by the Confederation of British Industry in 1992.
Yesterday MPs on the communities and local government committee said the figure was a ?fiction?.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) distils 1,300 pages of planning guidance into as few as 52 and writes into planning rules a ?presumption in favour of sustainable development?, without defining what it means.
Groups including the National Trust are concerned that the plans could give developers the right to build across large parts of rural England. The Daily Telegraph has launched a campaign calling for the changes to be revisited.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpo...s-old.html
The Telegraph is on the case
