Ministers are backing plans to strip local councils of their power to block building on greenfield sites in order to create more rural jobs.

Deputy prime minister John Prescott wants to reduce the means by which councils can reject new building on conservation grounds.

Rural affairs minister Alun Michael defended the proposals.

"We don't want rural Britain to become a museum of the landscape. Planning rules must make rural communities fit for the 21st century," he told today's Times.

"Otherwise we could just make it impossible for people to do business in our rural villages and that would be tragic. There is a need to diversify the rural economy because the numbers of jobs in farming and land-related business are just not there anymore."