The Dedham Vale - just one of many areas of countryside that campaigners fear could be vulnerable to developments

LARGE swathes of beautiful countryside will be left vulnerable to development if the Government pushes ahead with its latest planning blueprint, it is being warned today.

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The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has urged Whitehall to alter its draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Although nationally recognised designations – such as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks – are still protected, much of the “ordinary” countryside will be left vulnerable to urban sprawl, the CPRE claim.

The group believe up to 73% of the Suffolk countryside could be affected, while in Essex the figure is 57%.

Tom Holme, chairman of the Essex branch of the CPRE said: “We are pleased the Government’s planning reforms will retain protections for specially designated countryside – such as the AONBs in places like the Dedham Vale.

“But ministers have provided no reassurance that the final NPPF will recognise the value of the wider, undesignated countryside. A good example of this is the area of the Dedham Vale which is not an AONB. The landscape is at least up to the quality of the AONB part of it but there is no protection whatsoever if the first draft plan turns out as we fear.

“The presumption is in favour of ‘sustainable development’ – but there is no definition of what ‘sustainable development’ means. This could lead to inappropriate, large-scale greenfield housing developments. We are not anti-development, but we have great concerns.”

Mr Holme said the next draft of the NPPF should have a “robust” definition of “sustainable development” as well as protection for undesignated countryside.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said ministers were determined to deliver a simpler planning system that protected the countryside.

“The planning system has always enshrined the principle that the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development should be considered in a balanced way – and it will continue to do so,” she said. The framework also aimed to strengthen local decision-making, she added.