GORDON BROWN is preparing to sweep aside planning controls in villages and market towns to allow the biggest rural housebuilding programme for a generation.

Local authorities are to be controversially ordered to adopt a relaxed approach to the building of new homes in areas where planning permission has traditionally been refused.

The government has concluded that protecting the environment should no longer be the overriding consideration when decisions are made about whether to allow development in areas where locals are struggling to afford homes.

Under reforms expected to be unveiled this month, councils will be told to:

¤ earmark new building sites in every village and hamlet where affordable housing is needed
¤ use sweeping powers to overrule normal planning curbs in protected areas
¤ provide incentives for farmers to sell land to developers
¤ create a generation of new communities on the outskirts of market towns, similar to Poundbury, the Prince of Wales’s “model village”.

The changes are aimed at helping the government to achieve its target of building 3m new homes by 2020. All the main political parties agree that the extra housing is needed, although the building programme is likely to be delayed by the recession.

About 16,000 small towns, villages and hamlets across England, and dozens of market towns, could be affected by what is being described by ministers as a “fundamental shake-up” of rural planning policy.

The changes follow a government-commissioned investigation into housing shortages in the English countryside by Matthew Taylor, a Liberal Democrat MP.

His report, published last year, was fiercely critical of “restrictive” planning policies in the countryside, which he believes are turning many villages in the most sought after areas of the countryside into exclusive enclaves of the rich and retired, as locals are priced out. In areas such as Teignbridge, Devon, characterised by “chocolate box villages”, average house prices are 13.5 times the average income.

Taylor said councils should be encouraged to use existing powers to grant exceptional permission to build affordable housing in villages. The homes would have covenants so they could be sold only to local workers and their prices would be capped so they would remain affordable.

Taylor also attacked the burgeoning number of faceless housing estates on the fringes of market towns, saying local authorities should instead encourage the development of small communities, such as Poundbury, on the outskirts of market towns.

Margaret Beckett, the housing secretary, is ready to back Taylor’s key recommendations. Local planning officers will be told that villagers must support new housing in their area. There will be a strong government emphasis on “sensitive” development, typically involving a small number of new properties in each location.

Beckett held a private meeting with Taylor before Christmas at which she expressed strong support for the measures. Her department yesterday confirmed that an announcement is imminent.

A Whitehall source said: “We are ready to act on the thrust of Taylor’s recommendations. Our view is that he is on the money.

“Of course it will be controversial but it’s not something we have cooked up. It’s something people in the countryside have long been calling for.”

While some villagers will be concerned about the potential impact of new building on their doorstep, countryside protection groups are broadly supportive of Taylor’s recommendations. However, they have urged caution, warning that significant relaxation of planning curbs is unlikely to go hand in hand with sensitive development.

More than 6m people in Britain live in rural communities with populations of less than 3,000 where local authorities rarely allow new properties to be built. The government is expected to announce incentives for landowners to release sites for the new homes.

In market towns, local authorities will be encouraged to consider sacrificing green fields to give newly built properties bigger gardens, instead of what Taylor describes as “useless grass strips” where there is no space for children to play or trees to be planted.

The government is expected to argue that such fields are not normally accessible to the public and represent only a tiny fraction of agricultural land in England.

Tom Oliver, head of rural policy at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “Rural planning policy has served the country well for 60 years and its intelligent evolution is crucial.

“A strong planning system which guides high quality development to the right places and builds consensus in existing rural communities is vital for Taylor’s vision to be delivered.”

Additional reporting: Brendan Montague

At threat

THE historic hamlet of Carrick is threatened with being swamped by a 1,000-house development.

The village, a mile south of Truro, Cornwall, has 26 homes, a traditional pub and a former smelting works.

Carrick council has blocked development at a site at nearby Newham. However, the government wants 6,600 houses built near Truro and Carrick is one of the sites earmarked.

Villager Sue Adams, 44, a midwife, said: “We are going to be destroying everything that is beautiful and unique about this village.”

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