CPRE Surrey Branch Chairman Tim Murphy writes to Bob Neill MP: "Planning needs to 'hold the ring' between economic, social and environmental considerations. You are, presumably, aware of the history of planning in the UK which has given us a system of regulation that is widely admired around the world. Planning is not, and should never be, designed to simply advance a development agenda. It isn't planning controls that have caused our current economic problems but bankers and, indeed, the lack of regulation in the financial sector."

Countryside campaigners have been dealt a double blow after it emerged that one in three Green Belt planning applications is approved. Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) approved 329 out of 979 applications in the Green Belt in 2010/11, similar to the previous year, when 391 out of 926 were permitted. The figures, obtained by the Leatherhead Advertiser after a request made under the Freedom of Information Act, come weeks after the Government announced a "simplification" of planning rules, which conservation groups claim will allow widespread building on the Green Belt.

Fly-tipping and littering is ruining our countryside and harming the wildlife. Surrey is blessed with some of the best countryside the country has to offer but it is being blighted by rubbish dumped in hedgerows, lanes and fields. Action needs to be taken now to stop the countryside becoming a rubbish dump.

The Surrey Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England has hit back at Tory Minister Bob Neill after he branded CPRE a left-wing front. Branch Director Andy Smith said that the Minister was "very wide of the mark indeed" when he accused CPRE and the National Trust of being motivated by a left-wing political agenda.

Local countryside campaigners are warning that the Government's proposals for planning reform could pose the biggest threat to Surrey's countryside in generations. The Government's draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) represents the biggest shake-up of planning for over 50 years and CPRE believes it will place the countryside under increasing threat as the economy recovers.

In his annual address to members, CPRE Surrey Branch Chairman Tim Murphy says that the Surrey countryside is a precious asset but one that can all too readily come under pressure at times of economic stringency. "In today's economic circumstances", says Tim, "it can be difficult for those in power, whether at national or local level, to look much beyond the short term. This is, however, leading to decisions that could have profound, and negative, long-term consequences."

A threat by the owner of Dunsfold Park near Cranleigh to increase flights to and from Dunsfold aerodrome has provoked a strong response from the Surrey Branch of CPRE. A letter from Surrey branch director Andy Smith, published on April 15 in the Surrey Advertiser, reflects CPRE's anger at developer Jim McAllister's attempts to force Waverley Council and the local community to accept an expansion of aviation at Dunsfold as an alternative to his already-defeated "Eco-town" scheme. Presenting the community with a choice between a large-scale and unsustainable housing development on one hand and increased flights on the other is, says CPRE, an "entirely false and spurious" choice.

CPRE is calling on Surrey County Council to "think again" about some of its policies in view of the negative impact they are likely to have on the countryside. In particular, CPRE wants the County Council to withdraw its proposals for short-term car parking charges in villages and small towns, and to safeguard funding for rural libraries, roads, footpath maintenance, and bus services.