A blueprint report for the future of rural communities, ordered by Gordon brown from a Liberal Democratic MP under his “Government of all the talents” programme, has received a warm welcome from one of the country’s leading conservation bodies.

The report was compiled by Matthew Taylor, whose rural constituency in Cornwall faces many of the problems common in the Yorkshire Dales: many jobs dependent on a relatively short tourist season; a lack of affordable housing because of prices driven sky-high be second-home owners and holiday lets; and poor public transport.

He was asked to investigate these problems under Mr Brown’s “broad church” policy created when he took over as Prime Minister last year. Since then, of course, the economy has taken a sudden plunge for the worse, so whether some of the recommendations will be put into effect quickly is a matter of uncertainty.

Never-the-less, the influential Campaign to Protect Rural England said today that the report gave “reasons to be cheerful” – a relatively rare commendation because the CPRE has been one of the Governments’s most outspoken critics on rural policy.

It is so refreshing to read a report which puts long term planning, local distinctiveness, and community consent at
the heart of its recommendations.

Tom Oliver - CPRE

“It is so refreshing to read a report which puts long term planning, local distinctiveness, and community consent at the heart of its recommendations,” said Tom Oliver, head of rural policy at CPRE.

The report suggests practical ways of providing more permanently affordable housing for rural communities. Crucially, it recognises the wisdom of carefully planned and well designed settlements.

“Matthew Taylor has raised the level of debate about the development of our market towns with an inspiring call to put master planning centre stage,” Mr. Oliver went on. “‘CPRE wholly supports the identification of the planning system as the key to high quality, attractive settlements and surrounding countryside.”

Key recommendations in the report include:

• A commitment to the role of the planning system to deliver affordable housing
• An inspiring recommendation that significant extensions to market towns, where justified and needed, should be master-planned with long term quality of building at the top of the agenda;
• Concentration on high quality long term outcomes, rather than short term targets for local authorities
• Putting the consent of local communities at the heart of delivering affordable housing in rural settlements;
• Support for home working for those living in rented or part-owned accommodation;
• Strong commitment to the importance of local distinctiveness and local design and design guidance for local authorities in planning policy;
• Making it easier for local authorities to insist on a proportion of affordable