Home > Press releases > 2006 > Barker report threatens communities and countryside
Jul 4 2006
Kate Barker's review of land-use planning is a major threat to the interests of communities and the countryside, Friends of the Earth warned today.
The interim report paves the way for the further deregulation of the planning system, and suggests that the planning system should be based on market forces rather than delivering sustainable development. The report specifically identifies local community interests as a specific problem in making the system deliver for business.
Friends of the Earth's Executive Director Tony Juniper said:
"This Treasury-commissioned report is an attack on the regulations that safeguard our towns, villages and countryside. While Kate Barker pays lip service to community involvement, her review lays the framework for business to ride roughshod over the interests of local people and their environment."
Friends of the Earth warned that a radical overhaul was needed in Kate Barker's approach to land-use planning if her report was to deliver development that works for communities and the environment.
The environmental organisation is today hosting a briefing for MPs together with Paul Truswell MP looking at the positive contribution communities can make to the planning system [2].
[1] www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/ ¬
2006/press_barker_interim.cfm
[2] www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/ ¬
public_voice_in_planning_p_03072006.html
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
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LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
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