Planning pledge (From The Northern Echo)

Planning pledge

9:12am Saturday 22nd March 2008

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WHEN the Conservative Party held its spring conference in Gateshead last weekend a number of announcements were made.

Among them, the commitment by shadow secretary of state for local government Eric Pickles was of particular interest to those of us who want to see more local accountability for planning decisions.

Too often, local councils are unable to reject unsuitable planning applications because national planning guidelines tie their hands.

Where they do reject an application the developer is often successful on appeal. This has been seen time and again across the region, with historic houses continually being targeted as sites for large numbers of apartments.

The Conservative Party has made firm commitments to address the terrible flaws in the planning system.

We have confirmed that we will give more powers to elected local councils and will change the planning guidelines so that gardens are no longer classified as "previously developed land". It is a disgrace that, following changes made by Labour in 2000, gardens are treated for planning purposes in the same way as many former industrial sites.

We must give control of planning back to local people and bring democratic accountability back to the planning system.

James Wharton, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Stockton South.

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