Today is the final day for responses to a government consultation on proposed changes to planning rules.

The proposals, if passed into law, could see rural communities compelled to apply for planning permission for every day activities such as car boot sales and village fetes.

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

Mark Jones, senior planning adviser at the CLA, told ePolitix.com: "Existing temporary use rights underpin many community events and are an extremely valuable asset to farmers and rural businesses. They generate income for charities, businesses and the wider rural economy.

"The research report on which the government have based their proposals is, at best, flimsy and fails to provide any evidence of a real problem.

"Only 98 out of 388 local authorities responded to the government's research and of those only 30 identified temporary use as a problem. There is no need for new regulations: existing controls are sufficient to take account of any isolated problem.

"Removal of these rights will affect numerous temporary uses of land including traditional summer village fetes, markets, shoots and shows. We all know that if such temporary uses were brought under planning control there will be extra costs of application fees, delays in appeals and ultimately possible refusal of consent.

"Rural England thrives on voluntary participation by individuals who will go to great lengths to support their villages and communities with an enormous amount of hard work to organise events. Any extra planning hurdles could easily break the resolve of these people and rural community spirit will be further undermined."

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

Adrian Yalland, spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, told ePolitix.com: "The problem goes much further than this specific proposal. The government and Whitehall are still failing to sufficiently 'rural proof' policy.

"The government must realise as a matter of urgency that policies which might work well in a non-rural environment might not be applicable for rural areas - and in some cases can be disastrous.

"This specific proposal is an excellent example of how failing to rural proof policy damages rural areas and should serve as a wake-up call for the government. This proposal should be scrapped and more power over such decisions devolved to those most affected by them.

"Furthermore, a proper rural advocate should be empowered by government to prevent harmful proposals by stopping them at source."

Forum Response: The Woodland Trust

A Woodland Trust spokesman said: "We are concerned that this consultation on temporary land uses that are allowed without planning permission does not take into account the often damaging effects that certain activities have on valuable habitats such as ancient woodland (land continuously wooded for at least 400 years).

"We would like to see the removal of the right to use land of ecological value for such damaging activities as paintballing, motor sport and 4x4 driving and caravan sites. These activities are at present allowed for a limited amount of time each year and cause serious damage to the flora and fauna in ancient woods, degrading the habitat by causing significant permanent harm."