THE White Paper title Planning For A Sustainable Future encapsulates the objectives of continued economic generation and placing planning at the heart of the climate change agenda.

These can be diametrically opposite positions and it will be a challenge for Government to ensure a balance is reached to continue urban regeneration with the requirements for sustainable development.

The main proposal is the Independent Planning Commission responsible for determining plans of national importance to deliver infrastructure more quickly.

A national spatial strategy is proposed that would identify key infrastructure proposals for power stations, motorways and major rail schemes, which would form the basis of a streamlined application process outside council control.

The project would have to follow clear criteria for consultation with councils, statutory bodies and the public before being submitted to a national commission for a decision.

The Government is proposing a short period for legal challenge. There will be about 20 schemes per year.

However, these will do nothing for south Worcestershire.

A big concern is the delivery of local infrastructure. Schemes such as Worcestershire Parkway Station, rebuilding the Southern Link Road, completing the ring road, major M5 junction improvements and additional sewage works all need permission but would not benefit from this streamlined process.

There is a case for any scheme that has been identified to satisfy the local, regional and national planning requirements and has gone through consultation to be considered on a similar fast-track approach.

This would then improve the balance between growth and infrastructure for South Worcestershire.

The public is usually involved when an application is close to a home or business.

But the Government's message is that planning has to ensure that growth is delivered to a high quality and merely objecting to a proposal is not an option.

This remains the case but I am concerned that Government is giving a false impression of the role of community engagement.

Let's remember that planning is charged with making sustainable development and the public have a role in identifying if a proposal fails to satisfy established policy requirements or if the scheme could be improved. There remains no right of veto to development.

In the future, the public may have to look at the wider perspective of how to influence decision-making at a more strategic level than it does now. So there may need to be greater public scrutiny of the Regional Spatial Strategy and South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy to mould the future for our area.

There is such an opportunity later this year when the South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy Issues & Options are subject of consultation and people may see council involvement at summer events to bring this to public attention.

The Issues & Options will be asking whether the issues that the three councils raise, cover all important issues and which of the options put forward achieve the requirements for development in accordance with our vision for south Worcestershire.

Remember, some of the options will be challenging on purpose to discover public reaction.

The White Paper promotes planning's role in the climate change agenda with future legislation to tackle energy efficiency and climate change.

This needs to ensure a high quality environment. I look forward to robust legislation that requires builders to ensure that there are quality buildings with good open space linkage, providing access to facilities and public transport with sustainable urban drainage and use of energy efficiency measures, such as solar panels, heat pump systems, water recycling, green roofs and, where feasible, wind power.

That would enable future growth to balance with the quality of the environment.

In the future, I expect all developments to cater for energy efficiency but the Government is also considering options for removing the need for planning permission for wind turbines, solar panels and heat pump systems at existing houses. The initial proposals are very complex and I hope that they will be reconsidered.

Also, the Government is reviewing the need for planning permission for domestic extensions.

It believes that the system deals with too many householder schemes and is looking to reduce the number by 25 per cent. The work so far has been based on an impact assessment' whereby extensions causing no harm would not need permission. It is likely that there will be greater benefit to residents of rural areas rather than Worcester as there is likely to be less impact in such low density areas.

Councils will need to look at how this will affect income and the extra work for staff that will need to check if extensions satisfy the new regime following public concern.

No date is set for implementation.

A review of the appeals process is proposed to make it quicker with less cost and bureaucracy. It seeks to reduce the number of inquiries, but there is scope to take the reforms further to have a streamlined appeals process.

There will be many other changes coming forward that councils will need to embrace, but one final consideration is the change in retail policy.

No longer will the needs test' apply whereby developers have to prove that their store meets a local need.

I dread to think how the St John's store wars' of 2000 would have ended with the policy as proposed.

Rather than just a Sainsbury's development coming in the future, there could have been at least two stores, possibly next to each other.

That is not good planning, which is, after all what we are seeking to achieve.