Industry leaders back calls to loosen green belt

10 May 2007

Business leaders have urged the Government to back key recommendations of the Treasury-led Barker review into the planning system, to speed up major infrastructure decisions and review the green belt.
Environmentalists and council leaders fear the Barker review will lead to motorways and other big infrastructure being pushed through against the wishes of local communities, after it recommended greater use of government statements spelling out the national need for transport projects to reduce the length of public inquiries.
The Confederation of British Industry hopes the planning White Paper – which it expects to be published next week – will include national ‘statements of need,’ to reduce the time inquiries spend considering the need for a particular piece of infrastructure. But the CBI fears that without satisfactory consultation on these statements, they will be open to legal challenge, thereby only prolonging the planning process. The recent successful Greenpeace challenge to the Government’s energy White Paper forced the Department of Trade and Industry back to the drawing board.
John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said ‘The UK desperately needs new infrastructure to stay competitive, and to try to meet the huge challenges of energy, waste and transport. Full and open consultation is important on a crowded island, but the UK cannot afford delays of years which take projects back to square one.
‘The recent Greenpeace challenge on nuclear power is a prime example of how getting consultation wrong can slow the whole process down,’ he added. The CBI urges the Government to support Barker’s call for planning authorities to review green belt designations – covering 13% of England – to decide whether they ‘remain relevant’ in current circumstances. It also stressed that the CBI ‘welcomes the attention to the risk of unsustainable outcomes arising from green belt allocations, including increased commuter journeys’. Graeme Fitton, chair of the County Surveyors’ Society transport committee, agreed that inquiries often took ‘an inordinate amount of time’ but he stressed that any reforms brought forward should recognise that ‘we need to go through a proper, democratic process’.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: ‘We welcomed Barker’s report, and are committed to looking at how we can improve the planning system to make it more efficient. ‘The forthcoming planning White Paper will respond to Barker’s recommendations, setting out which proposals we agree with and will be implementing.’

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