Promoting new development in the countryside is pandering to business preferences for greenfield sites and risks needlessly destroying the beauty of rural England.
This is the CPRE’s message in its report Rural Roulette, which examines the extent to which new development in rural areas is bringing benefits to those most in need.
CPRE’s rural affairs officer, Gregor Hutcheon, said: “The government’s new draft rural guidance (PPG 7) still emphasises the need for new development. But the evidence shows that, while the tremendous amount of development taking place in the countryside is bringing new jobs and new businesses to rural areas, they do not appear to be the right jobs in the right places.”
CPRE estimates that 11,000ha (over 27,000 acres) of countryside is being lost to urban uses each year. And the report claims a mismatch between new rural jobs and local skills.
