POS Policy Committee met on 3/2/6 and considered this. Our views are as follows:

We welcome the preparation of this draft and consider it to be a comprehensive fulfilment of its aspirations. There is a welcome recognition (e.g. in para 2.7) that the Planning system's role is crucial in securing good quality development and rejecting developments which threaten the retention or creation of high quality environments essential to the growth of tourism. Paragraph 3.11 fully recognises the Planning system's role in protecting key tourism assets. In the light of the economic significance to the Country's economy that tourism plays, this recognition of this vital role for planning is welcome and should be reported to Kate Barker for reference in her forthcoming study of the Planning system.

Section 5 of the report is particularly welcome in setting out good advice to developers on the kind of considerations which town planners have to balance when coming to decisions on proposals. Paragraph 3.19 of the document gives corresponding advice to planners on what they need to understand, particularly the third bullet point which recognises the inherent tension between tourism and sustainability in that tourists by their nature frequently seek out remote locations.

An additional bullet point which could be added to this paragraph would alert planners to the need to be vigilant in identifying and protecting buildings and sites which might form the nucleus or seed of future tourist activity - for example in existing, but potentially declining industrial or commercial areas.

I trust these comments are useful.

Paul Clark

Chairman, Policy Committee

6^th February 2006