BBC: "Planning minister denies U-turn on reform proposals"

Link to BBC web site

"The government has denied it is considering a U-turn over controversial proposals to alter the planning system.

"Campaigners say they fear excessive development under the Draft National Planning Policy Framework.

"The plan, published in July, streamlines policy that is currently more than 1,000 pages down to just 52, and features a presumption of 'sustainable development'.

"The Department for Communities and Local Government says it intends to transform a system whose 'volume and complexity have made planning increasingly inaccessible to all but specialists'."