Peter Chap-Clear

Yeah, I suppose.

Good morning, David, and good morning to your listeners.

And currently, the guidance that are in place are far too restrictive.

We're coming across multiples of cases in our clinics every single week where people can't build on their own land.

The old guidelines that were there are 21 years old now so they need to be updated and they need to be upgraded and Minister Brown has put huge work in over the last number of months and really wants to liberalise planning in rural areas so that if you're from a rural area, if you're from a local area that you'll be able to build and live in your community because

David, ultimately rural communities, they need people if they're to survive and if they're to thrive into the future.

And if we want vibrant rural communities, then we have to make it possible for people to live there.

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And there's absolutely no questioning that.

But we're seeing a situation now where people that have local links are still struggling to get planning.

There's huge inconsistencies from one local authority to the next.

There's potential improvements that could be made regarding backland development.

I mean, I think that's... I'm not fully connected...

That's something that needs to be looked at and again could add additional thousands of homes every year.

There's huge challenges in terms of access onto the national regional roads so there are a lot of challenges out there in the existing planning guidelines and my view is need to be updated simply for the reason David if you're from a rural area you should be able to live and have your family and grow your family in that rural area.

Yeah, and the key thing here is nobody is suggesting a free-for-all here, David.

But if someone has roots in an area and if they want to raise their family there, the planning system should be helping them, not standing in their way.

And I'd be very, very strong on that.

And I think things like remote working, David, have changed the conversation as well.