Faster planning does not mean better planning

In response to the first major planning applications being accepted by the new Government planning quango, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC); Fiona Howie, Head of Planning for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), says:

"It is important that this new quango is not used to steamroll over genuine local concerns over both the environmental and contextual impacts of these huge industrial developments.

"New power stations are often extremely contentious due to their scale and their environmental and visual impacts. The Government has recently reformed how we plan for nuclear and conventional power stations, renewables, electricity transmission lines and other major infrastructure. This has been one of the most controversial changes to planning in over 60 years and these changes come into force today.

"Clearly the UK needs to invest in our infrastructure if we are to meet the economic challenges of the future but this should be at the expense of our countryside which once lost, can never be restored."

Fiona Cowan
1 March 2010

Website Link: http://www.cpre.org.uk