The natural environment has been identified as the major obstacle in the future prosperity of the UK.
Please read the HM Government Document;
National Infrastructure Plan 2011
Click here to view the plan.
Here is an extract from the plan which expands on the views which many people have objected to in the Planning System proposed newNational Planning Policy  Framework:

0. Reforming the planning and consenting systems
   To tackle barriers in planning, the Government is placing the presumption in favour of sustainable development at the heart of the planning system, requiring a positive approach to be taken to plan-making and to decisions on individual planning applications.
   As set out in Chapter 6, as part of implementing the recommendations of the Penfold Review, the Government will:
   

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• ensure the key consenting and advisory agencies have a remit to promote sustainable development as soon as the National Planning Policy Framework is finalised. This will ensure that these bodies consider the impact of their decisions on sustainable economic growth and swiftly approve consents when it is appropriate to do so; and
  
• introduce a 13 week maximum timescale for the majority of non-planning consents, to speed up the consenting process and give certainty to developers. This would take immediate effect for Government agencies.
  In addition, the Government will:
  

• ensure that there is a more effective mechanism for applicants to obtain an award of costs, if there is an appeal against refusal of a planning permission where a statutory consultee has acted unreasonably, through measures to be implemented in summer 2012. The Government will also improve the performance of the key statutory consultees in responding swiftly to applications;
  
• build more flexibility into the new major infrastructure planning process, particularly in the pre-application phase, by summer 2012, as part of a light touch review of the process responding to feedback from users of the regime; and
  
• ensure that compliance with the Habitats and Wild Birds Directives does not lead to unnecessary costs and delays to development, while continuing to support the Directives’ objectives. The Government is reviewing the directives as currently implemented in England by Budget 2012 and is committed to tackling blockages for developments where compliance is particularly complex or has large impacts. In addition, the Government can announce progress on specific projects where compliance has already proved problematic, including Falmouth Harbour.