Building in Arcadia

Chapter 2Policy

The framework for plan-making and decision-taking needs to be understood to appreciate where any necessary change in the approach to development in the countryside will come from. This chapter sets out the hierarchy of policies that direct decision-makers in the English plan-led system. It also examines some of the conflicts between national and local planning, and between local plans and Neighbourhood Plans, that affect rural planning decisions under the following headings:

• The development plan
• Policies that affect the countryside
  • Sustainable development
• Areas of constraint
  • Green belt
  • Landscape and the natural environment
  • The historic environment
• Rural building conversion
• Design in planning policy
• Policy making for new housing ...