Sustainable development ‘should be key to planning law’

Posted 09/12/2011

Reform of the current planning law system should focus on sustainable development.This is the view of Ian Wilson, head of government affairs at the National Trust, who explained this is as it would enable economic growth.He called for a review of planning law, while labelling the Localism Act as an “enormous challenge”.”The loss of the regional spatial strategies means that all of the difficult decisions effectively get moved to a much more local level,” said Mr Wilson.He added there is a need for a more stringent definition of what sustainable development entails in the new planning law system.The National Trust representative also called for good quality places, both in terms of the social infrastructure and the quality of the environment.Annette Brooke, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary committee on communities and local government, recently published a report calling for a better definition of sustainable development to be included in planning law, the Independent reported.