The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was unveiled in the House of Commons by Greg Clark, Minister for Decentralisation and Planning, on Tuesday 27th March.
The Draft NPPF was launched last summer, and Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP Steve Brine was quick to speak out against some of the initial plans.
He also co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister earlier in March pressing the need to protect our countryside, joining MPs such as Zac Goldsmith and Dr Julian Lewis.
Speaking to colleagues on 27th March, Greg Clark said: "Our reforms to planning policy have three fundamental objectives: to put power in the hands of communities to shape the places in which they live; to help create the homes and jobs the country needs; and to protect and enhance our natural and historic environment.
"The new Framework makes planning much simpler and more accessible – distilling over 1,300 pages of often impenetrable jargon, scattered over 44 separate documents, into what I hope you will agree is a clear, readable guide of around 50 pages.
"The Framework is clear that planning decisions should be made by local people through a local plan – informed, where desired, by neighbourhood plans. It provides transitional arrangements, agreed with the Local Government Association, for councils who have adopted or are preparing plans, with a presumption in favour of sustainable development to guide well-balanced decisions where no local policy exists.
"The Framework also makes clear our unswerving commitment to conserving the countryside – whether or not it is nationally designated – and promotes the redevelopment of previously developed 'brownfield' land. The new Framework has been strengthened by responses to the consultation which began in July 2011 and, in particular, by the detailed advice of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee."
Addressing the Commons, Steve Brine highlighted the primacy of local plans, and said he wanted clearer signals that the presumption in favour of sustainable development would work through, and not against, local plans.
Speaking afterwards, he said: "It is no secret I was unhappy with the first draft of these changes and I have had a lot of contact with Ministers since to bring my constituents concerns to the consultation process.
"They have listened to a great number of representations and we've won important changes on brownfield first, recognising the intrinsic value and beauty of the local countryside whether it is specifically designated or not and made clear that sustainable development embraces social and environmental as well as economic objectives in a balanced way.
"Ministers assure us that the presumption in favour of sustainable development works through, and not against, local plans. Like many of the people I represent I will be watching closely for evidence of that but I would still like to hear a clearer line from Government that a local plan has absolute primacy."