Up to 75,000 new homes could be built on green belt land

A government-led planning shake-up could lead to the construction of tens of thousands of desperately required new homes on green belt land across the country, but environmental campaigners argue that it could pose a threat to the English countryside.

With severe shortage of new homes in this country, the government is under intense pressure to help housebuilders increase housing output, starting with a less stringent planning system.

The Draft National Planning Policy Framework will amend the existing planning legislation so that any planning applications that fit with "local development strategies" proposed by councils will be given permission.

The new rules will also permit councils to approve development on green belt land if previous development has already taken place.

However, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) fear a shake-up of the planning laws could see as many as 74,500 new homes built on protected green belt land across the country.

Research by CPRE showed that some local authorities are attempting to redraw the boundaries of green belts in their areas in a bid to increase the supply of new homes.

"There is a lot of Green Belt land already being threatened," said Paul Miner, senior planning campaigner for the CPRE. "The new draft planning framework opens up the amount of Green Belt that can be developed and we could see a lot more of the nation's countryside being lost as a result."

He added: "Not all councils have drawn up plans yet, so as time goes on, we could see large areas of Green Belt being lost."

But Tory MP Jake Berry, ministerial aide to Grant Shapps, the housing minister, accused the CPRE of "gross hypocrisy" after they received a grant for over £600,000 to support neighbourhood planning.

Berry said: "It is gross hypocrisy for them to take thousands of pounds of taxpayers cash to assist with the government's planning reforms yet at the same time be shamelessly opportunistic and attack them.

"Their credibility is completely undermined and perhaps they should think about paying their government funding back."