Parliamentary Power

It's not often I agree with The Daily Mail, but I do like the way they chop through the government's proposed reforms to the planning system. And hurray! It appears that MPs have listened. The Commons communities committee today said that the changes - which reduce more than 1,000 pages of planning regulations to just 52 - need refined. As the RTPI, TCPA and others have long been saying, they found that the 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' is both vague - and open to legal challenge - and risks putting short term economic considerations ahead of our long term social and environmental interests. And a bit of legal certainty would help developers have the confidence to invest in the houses and places that we need.