I AM increasingly concerned about the Government’s planning reforms.

They’re right to talk about protecting Green Belts, National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty when decisions are made about where development should take place.

But what about the 60 per cent of England’s countryside that is none of these things, like a lot of our local countryside?

Since 1945, successive governments have protected the countryside for its own sake.

For almost 20 years there has been a requirement that brownfield land should be developed before green fields.

The Government is proposing to abandon this policy, yet a new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England demonstrates that the supply of brownfield land is increasing.

There is enough to provide 1.5 million new homes.

I gather that Ministers are considering the final changes to their new planning policies.

If something is not done soon to get them to change their plans, much of our countryside will be at risk.

Readers can use the action on the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s website to write to their MP: www.cpre.org.uk.

PAUL HUGHES, Sedge Way, Carterton