The Commons transport, local government and the regions select committee today published their report on the planning green paper.

Forum Response: Woodland Trust

A spokesman from the Woodland Trust told ePolitix.com, "The Woodland Trust welcomes the transport, local government and regions select committee report which condemns many of the proposals in the government's planning green paper. We especially support the recognition that the proposed reforms ignore the importance of environmental protection and prudent use of natural resources.

"Protection of the environment should lie at the heart of a sustainable planning system and the Trust shares the committee's concerns that this has been sidelined in the proposals.

"We share the committee's concerns about the proposals for reform of the local planning system whereby structure plans, unitary development plans and local plans would be replaced by less detailed local development frameworks which would not provide a clear and comprehensive map to guide what development should be allowed where.

"The committee rightly stated that: 'The local development frameworks could cause considerable confusion because of the reliance on vague criteria', we too are concerned that if these proposals were put into action the result would be widespread confusion and potentially the destruction of valuable and irreplaceable natural resources such as ancient woodland.

"The Trust is also worried by the prospect that major infrastructure projects, will in future, be approved in principle by parliament. The committee warns that even if these proposals are not formally whipped business 'the influence of party discipline will be extremely difficult to avoid'.

"These complex decisions will be made against the backdrop of the short-term political climate rather than via real in-depth analysis of key sustainability issues such as environmental impact, community impact, and economic gain.

"We hope that the government will take careful note of the committee's proposals in this report before making a statement on the approach they will take."Forum Response: National Trust

Tony Burton, The National Trust's director of policy and strategy, told ePolitix.com, "The government's plans to use parliament to decide on major infrastructure projects will waste time and exclude people.

"Instead of loading extra responsibility on parliament, the government should improve the way policies are developed and local public inquiries are handled."