A RADICAL overhaul of the planning system is needed to boost the economy and improve the quality of homes and neighbourhoods in the North-East, planning minister Lord Falconer said yesterday.

He was addressing a conference organised by the British Urban Regeneration Association (Bura) in Newcastle.

Lord Falconer said: "Everyone agrees the planning system is in dire need of change. It is slow to act, inflexible and excludes people from vital decisions affecting their communities.

"We are determined to change all that. We want a system that is fast, flexible and fair to all. Key to that is chopping through the bureaucracy that currently hampers any prospect of development."

Lord Falconer said he wanted to see a simpler system with clear areas of responsibility that everyone could understand.

"In our future system there will be local, regional and national plans that fit and complement each other. We will get rid of the county structure plan as it overlaps and contradicts other levels of planning."

Lord Falconer said the planning system needed to recognise that the challenges faced on Tyneside and across the North-East were often very different to the rest of the country.

He said: "In Newcastle and in coalfield communities, the challenge is to redevelop areas being abandoned and left to rot.

"In Northumberland it's regenerating rural communities hit hard by foot-and-mouth. In Durham, Guisborough and Berwick, it's protecting some of Britain's most beautiful historic towns and cities."