GOVERNMENT planning reforms are unnecessarily damaging the countryside surrounding towns such as Farnham and undermining local democracy, according to a new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

The 'Community Control or Countryside Chaos?' report concludes that countryside across England is "under siege" by plans for more than 700,000 homes, including 200,000 allocated for the Green Belt, which councils are "powerless" to prevent.

In Farnham, councillors have long warned that large swathes of green fields surrounding the town are threatened by unchecked development after the Government simplified its planning guidance.

For full story, see this week's Farnham Herald.