New housing plans threaten playing fields and sports grounds
Labour warns that government guidelines on new housing put unprotected recreation areas at risk of development
Playing fields and sports grounds in towns and cities across England and Wales face being built over with new housing under government planning reforms, Labour has warned.
New planning guidelines intended to dramatically speed up development to boost the economy and help solve the housing crisis risk allowing unprotected recreation areas to be earmarked in development plans, according to the opposition planning spokeswoman, Roberta Blackman-Woods.
She has warned the threat is compounded by proposals from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to demand a fee of up to 1,000 from anyone who wants to register land as a village green, and thereby give it protected status.
Labour is preparing for a tussle with the government over the proposed national planning policy framework (NPPF) in January as Greg Clark, the planning minister, finalises reforms that have been described as the biggest overhaul of the system since 1947. The draft policy includes a "presumption in favour of development", which has sparked concern that playing fields and green space in towns and cities will be left unprotected.
"We are worried about playing fields being incorporated into a local plan because of the presumption in favour of development," Blackman-Woods said. "Unless it is adapted so we get a presumption in favour of brownfield development, many sites are at risk. That means playing fields and parks and land that isn't developed or is protected as greenbelt."
She said she was particularly concerned about playing fields beside council estates on the edges of towns and villages.
The draft planning policy includes the principle that land of "least environmental quality" should be developed first, which Labour has complained is not a clear statement in favour of prioritising brownfield land.
"This suggestion is completely wrong," said a spok! esman fo r the department for communities. "We are increasing the opportunity for communities to protect playing fields, by introducing a new planning designation to safeguard valuable local green spaces. The Localism Act will also introduce a new community right to buy to help protect community assets."
Campaigners trying to save village greens and areas of common land said they were also "deeply concerned about the draft NPPF".
"It purports to create a new Local Green Space designation, while putting a whole host of existing open spaces at risk with its presumption in favour of the undefined sustainable development," said Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society.
"The new designation is so shackled by restrictions as to render it useless. It must 'complement investment in sufficient homes, jobs and other essential services'. It 'will not be appropriate for most green areas of open space', it must be in reasonably close proximity to a centre of population and it must not be an extensive tract of land. There is no mention that the public will have the right to walk on these spaces. We fear for the future of green spaces."
Labour will also argue that the proposed planning policy, which will simplify rules from 1,300 pages to as few as 52, will mean that local authority planning committees will fear court action if they reject proposals.
"It is too vague for local authorities to have any confidence to turn anything down," said Blackman-Woods, who was vice-chairman of the planning committee at Oxford city council. "Legal officers in local authorities tend to be cautious, so we will see that council planners will be advised that grounds for turning down an application will be almost non-existent. Local authorities are not going to take the gamble that they are going to lose in the courts."
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