Draft National Planning Policy Framework consultation - Housing Developers hoard land anticipating a "killing" after policy clear-out

Housing developers are hoarding parcels of land - and waiting for the new National Planning Policy framework, anticipating making a killing out of the Green Belt Click here for Telegraph article

The UK government is seeking responses to its draft National Planning Policy Framework Click here to have your say  . The leading landscape charity, the National Trust has major misgivings. As they say, "Planning is for People not Profit" Click here for NT response to Gov't proposals .  One of the biggest failures in the Policy Framework is that it fails to refer to UK treaty law, as signatories to the European Landscape Convention Click for the text of the European Landscape Convention, which guarantees public participation in landscape polices.

The Planning Framework replaces a list of published policies -including those on archaeological remains and the historic environment- with a single presumption in favour of development. It retains advice for consultation of the Historic Environment Record and, "

Where an application site includes or has the potential to include heritage assets with archaeological interest, local planning authorities should require developers to submit an appropriate desk-based assessment and, where necessary, a field evaluation." 

But it fails to give guidance beyond that point. Should remains be retained and conserved? Excavated? Their destruction monitored but no more? What sense does it have that archaeological remains -in particular- are part of our common patrimony, owned collectively by the people, not merely of the locality, but generally, national, European, or globally?

Click here listen to a radio debate on the draft policy.
Click here for the National Trust's campaign Blog