The Green MP for Brighton Pavilion has today pledged her support for the National Trust's ‘Up for Grabs' campaign by signing a petition against sweeping reforms to the planning system.

The petition calls on the Coalition Government to withdraw and rethink its proposed National Planning Policy Framework which would introduce a presumption in favour of development on unprotected greenfield sites and allow financial considerations to dominate the planning system.

Commenting on her pledge, Caroline said:

"I share the National Trust's profound concerns about these proposals.

"Of course there is an urgent need to build more housing, but the main obstacle isn't the planning system, it's the lack of money - thanks in no small part to the Government's decision to cut the affordable housing budget by 60%.

"These alarming proposals, which include scrapping the policy of building on Brownfield sites before Greenfield sites and the duty to ensure that new developments minimise road traffic, would give the green light to countless inappropriate schemes in cherished landscapes.

"Brighton and Hove and Sussex more generally are already under considerable pressure from development and many of my constituents rightly fear the impact of these reforms on the places they know and love.

"It is no exaggeration to describe the National Planning Policy Framework as a developer's charter."

Geri Silverstone, External Affairs Consultant at the National Trust, added:

"We are delighted that Caroline Lucas has pledged her support for our campaign.

"We are encouraging everybody in Brighton and Sussex, including other politicians, to have their say on this important issue before it is too late."

Caroline Lucas' backing comes at a critical moment in the National Trust's campaign with just over a week to go before the end of a public consultation on the new policy.

The move reflects mounting national and local concern about the impact of the planning reforms which were announced in July this year.

The National Trust wants the Coalition Government to:

- strike a better balance between economic, social and environmental considerations in the planning system

- abandon its principle of a default ‘yes' to planning applications

- retain the ‘brownfield first' approach to development

- ensure local plans are created by democratically elected and accountable representatives not businesses

To sign the National Trust's petition before the end of the public consultation on 17 October please visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/planning

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

To read the National Planning Policy Framework in full or to respond to the consultation formally visit http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/1951811.pdf