Rural and environmental campaigners stepped up their opposition yesterday to government proposals to fast-track big infrastructure projects, claiming that they amounted to a “developers’ charter”.

A Planning Reform Bill will allow an independent commission to decide where nuclear plants, motorways and airports are sited. Ministers will no longer have the final say and local communities will be largely bypassed in the decision process.

The legislation will let homeowners and small businesses go ahead with extensions without planning permission with the aim of freeing councils to speed up housing developments.

A Housing and Regeneration Bill to improve the provision of social and affordable housing, release public sector land for building and establish “eco” towns was confirmed yesterday.

Both Bills include measures to help to meet Gordon Brown’s target of building 240,000 houses a year by 2016 and three million by 2020.

The Prime Minister said that the Government was assessing more than 900 public-sector sites to provide 200,000 new homes. “Our aim is that half the homes on surplus public sector sites will be designated for social rent for first-time buyers and for key workers,” he said. “By raising spending on affordable homes to at least £8 billion between now and 2011 we will deliver 180,000 new affordable homes, 25,000 a year with shared equity and at least 45,000 new social homes a year.”

But the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) gave warning that it would fight to try to block the legislation. A spokesman for the CPRE said that the organisation had already had one-to-one meetings with 24 Labour MPs who were apprehensive about plans for an independent commission.

It has joined Planning Disaster, a coalition of environmental and social organisations which say that the new laws will cut local communities out of planning decisions and push through new airports, roads and power plants that could damage the environment.

Ben Stafford, the CPRE campaign director, said: “The Planning Reform Bill looks like a developers’ charter. Ministers must listen to the concerns of the public who responded to their planning reform consultation in the summer. They should scrap plans that will reduce the public’s say on major developments and be damaging to the environment.”

The organisation also fears that the housing Bill will lead to tens of thousands of homes being built on greenfield and greenbelt land as the Government tries to meet its ambitious housing targets.

The National Trust gave warning at the weekend that it too would fight further developments on greenbelt land.

But the National Housing Federation said the ambitious house-building programme was “sorely needed”. David Orr, its chief executive, said: “Bringing forward more public land, creating a powerful new homes and communities agency and raising house building to 240,000 homes a year are exactly what the Government should be doing. We are particularly pleased to see the Government is now aiming to build 70,000 social homes a year from 2010-11.”

— Plans to allow councils to pilot pay-as-you throw schemes to boost recycling were given approval despite widespread opposition to the scheme. Proposals in the Climate Change Bill, to be published shortly, will let councils charge residents who put out too much blackbin waste while rewarding those who throw out less.

Pomp and politics

— Traditions surrounding the State Opening of Parliament, including the delivery of a speech by the monarch, date from the 16th century. The current ceremony began with the opening of the rebuilt Palace of Westminster in 1852 after the fire of 1834

— The Queen has missed the State Opening only twice in her 55 year reign - in 1959 and 1963 when she was pregnant with Andrew and Edward. In the absence of the sovereign, the Lord Chancellor reads the speech

— Queen Victoria rarely attended after Prince Albert’s death in 1861. In her absence the pageantry was left out - although she reportedly kept an eye on proceedings and expressed unhappiness when she thought standards were slipping

— In 1901, the new king Edward VII reinstated the occasion’s pomp and ceremony, complete with state coach and traditional robes. He had detailed requirements, including seating arrangements for the Royal family and changes to the fabric of the thrones

— Before the monarch travels to Parliament, an MP is taken “hostage” at Buckingham Palace to guarantee a safe return. This is a symbol of the days when the two institutions had a somewhat more fractious relationship than they do now. The ceremonial hostage is normally a government whip, and this year was Liz Blackman

— The cellars under the Houses of Parliament are searched - by a detachment of the Yeomen of the Guard as well as the normal police checks - as a reminder of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605

— The Queen travels from Buckingham Palace in the blue-and-black Irish State Coach, but the Regalia – the Imperial State Crown, the Cap of Maintenance and the Sword of State – travel ahead, usually in Queen Alexandra’s State Coach

— After the monarch takes the throne in the House of Lords, an official known as Black Rod summons the Commons. In a symbol of the Commons’ independence, the door to the chamber is slammed in his face and not opened until he has knocked on it with his staff

— Yesterday’s speech lasted just over eight minutes, containing announcements on 28 Bills

— A “Speech from the Throne” is held in other Commonwealth countries, and is usually read on the Queen’s behalf by the relevant Governor-General. However, if she is in the country at the relevant time, such as in Canada in 1957 and 1977, she will sometimes give the address in person

Source: Parliament.uk, 10 Downing Street website

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