THE Government's proposed legislation programme, outlined in yesterday's Queen's Speech to the Houses of Parliament, has been slammed by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

The Planning Reform Bill looks like being a developer's charter

CPRE

Although giving a cautious welcome to the proposed global warming bill, the CPRE issued an angry statement declaring: "The Planning Reform Bill looks like being a developer's charter - a dismantling rather than an evolution of the planning system introduced by the 1945 Labour Government.

"Ministers must listen to the concerns of the public who responded to their planning reform consultation in the summer. They should scrap plans that will reduce the public's say on major development and be damaging to the environment.

'In relation to the Housing and Regeneration Bill, policy needs to be driven by quality design, affordability and location. The new Homes and Communities Agency must meet these objectives, and resist greenfield sprawl - there also need to be appropriate checks and balances on its sweeping powers.

"The agency should be a vehicle for delivering the right housing in the right place, not a sausage-machine churning out new housing regardless of need and local concerns."