Letters: Loosen green ring rules

The National Trust is incorrect to say that the Government is weakening its commitment to protect our environment (planning rules fire sparks green belt warning, 27 June). Preserve the character of the landscape of our country and by checking the dispersion without restrictions of built-up areas are key priorities in our new national planning policy framework.

Illustration: Gillian Blease

This new document guarantees national protection values as green belt areas of natural beauty and sites of special scientific interest, as well as ensuring measures to protect wildlife, biodiversity and cultural heritage, and that against light pollution. It also proposes a new name to protect local green spaces need of special protection. Far from having the potential to cause degradation of the environment, the framework protecting the invasion area and prohibit the development which is clearly in conflict with its powerful environmental protection.

Matrix confusing and contradictory of the above work planning of condensation is part of a series of broader reforms for sustainable development and protecting the environment. Planning has become the reserve of lawyers, City Hall officials and pressure groups; This Government is determined to have a system that truly represents and serves the interests of local communities.

Bob Neill MP

Minister of planning

? A favorite trick of the developers of shrewd speculator is permission during the holidays in summer or Christmas, when the people's attention is elsewhere. Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for the environment, is playing the same game destruction with its new white paper on planning regulations.

The central idea of this new policy, which slipped out, while the Parliament is on vacation, is to loosen rules of planning to ensure that, unless an area is designated a national park or area of natural beauty, there is no defence against any developer that wants to develop anything anywhere.

Britain has a good reputation to protect the beautiful countryside and ancient built environment. Thanks to reasonably strict rules for planning, since the second world war, have medrol protect our heritage against the worst excesses of urban sprawl and sporadic development in rural areas.

No more. The Government, under pressure from big business, wants developers to rule off. Communities and local authorities will be unable to prevent large scale development on greenfield sites. If you object to this document, write to Eric Pickles MP.

Tony Foster

Tywardreath, Cornwall

? While properly concerned about the laws of planning of new proposals, recording "a decent ambition" to involve those affected by planning decisions in the process of making them (Editorial, July 28). But to what extent persons actually affected has something to say in the determination of the laws and the resulting processes?

Most participants in the consultations, in addition to the developers, are national organizations with the resources to get deeply involved. Local residents affected, either alone or in neighbourhood organizations, will fight with the effort and time, not to mention the laborious printing of consultation documents available only online and rarely in local libraries.

Bernard Wainewright

Hatch end, Middlesex

? Peter Hetherington (society, 27 July) regrets the decision of the Government of scrap of planning rules to convert commercial property in the residential. In Britain, the price of real estate residential has increased much more than commercial. Scrap rules could be a relatively cheap way to more homes. Moreover, criticized the decision to leave to the Councils to accept payments from developers, since this would allow "permission to be bought or sold". Really? Is this different from what we saw at work, where the construction of a new supermarket requires x number of affordable housing? Was how costly this process of negotiation for businesses and advice, money and time? The new system could be said that this simplifies and gives advice discretion in what areas they feel need money spent rather than dictated by the central Government.

Paul Negrotti

Greenford, Middlesex

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