Development in rural areas

The government sets out most of its planning 'rules' in what are called planning policy statements, usually known as PPS.  PPS7 is the most important one for the countryside and AONB 's in particular.  Called "Sustainable Development in Rural Areas" it sets out a range of regulations for rural planning issues, but in particular sets the top level planning rules for AONB's:

• AONB's have the highest status of protection in relation to landscape and scenic beauty
• the conservation of natural beauty is given great weight in planning policies
• major developments should not take place in AONB's, except in exceptional circumstances

The full text of PPS7 can be found here.

Recently the government issued a revision of PPS4 which changed and replaced many parts of PPS7.  Please see our page on PPS4 here.

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