§ Mr. ColmanTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the recently announced proposals to free up land for development relate purely to councils blocking applications for housing schemes in conservation areas; 1087W and whether they apply to single dwelling developments in the curtilage of other single dwellings in conservation areas. [147887]
§ Yvette CooperThe recent reports suggesting that my right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister, was proposing to remove the planning powers of local councils to prevent new building in the countryside are untrue. My right hon. Friend has made no such announcement, and has no such plans.
This press speculation appears to have been based on the draft of a new Planning Policy Statement (PPS7), "Sustainable Development in Rural Areas". The draft was published for public consultation in September 2003 by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It sets out proposed national planning policies to deliver sustainable rural communities by focussing most new development on towns and villages, and through strict control over new development in the open countryside. Draft PPS7 proposes that local planning authorities should adopt criteria-based policies in development plans for the location and design of rural development, rather than rely on locally designated landscape protection areas. It would remain for local planning authorities in the first instance to determine planning applications, having regard to these and other relevant policies.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is now considering the responses to the consultation draft. The views expressed will help inform the final version of PPS7.