Nearly 30 organisations including property associations, engineering bodies and green charities have written to communities secretary Eric Pickles criticising the government’s planning policies, as tipped by Property Week four weeks ago.

Bodies including the British Property Federation, the British Urban Regeneration Association, the UK Green Building Council and Shelter have allied to condemn the dismantling of Labour’s regional planning systems, the letter showed.

The government’s localism agenda, which would see councils encouraged to meet housing targets with incentives, has been criticsed by the property industry for promoting nimbyism.

The letter was organised by the Royal Town Planning Institute and Ann Skippers, president, warned that reforms to the system could hinder solutions to the housing crisis, to tackling climate change, to expanding renewable energy infrastructure and to reversing biodiversity loss.

Although the localism agenda had its benefits, it was important for communities, she said, to develop strategic thinking “beyond the local level” to deal with issues such as waste management and flood protection. Meanwhile, in the letter the signatories call for a meeting with Mr Pickles to discuss filling the gap in the planning process in a “positive, constructive manner”.

They said: “Such a meeting is, we believe, particularly urgent now that regional spatial strategies have been revoked and there is the need to limit any adverse impacts that this may have on investment while communities consider and implement alternative approaches.”

A Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “The current top-down bureaucratic planning model has been very good at generating impressive-sounding numbers but built nothing but resentment.

“By allowing communities to shape their neighbourhoods and share in the benefits, we are beginning to restore the idea that development can be a force for good, rather than something to be resisted at all costs.”

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