The BCC published the initial results of a survey on planning which was completed by more than 5,300 companies, and which found that business confidence and investment decisions were being affected by the planning process. 

More than half of the survey's respondents believed that planning committees made decisions contrary to the advice of planning officers and 72% of businesses that had been through the planning process on multiple occasions said that the advice they had been given was inconsistent across local authority boundaries.

The BCC said businesses had little confidence that the planning system responded to proposals in a fair way.

The government’s national planning policy framework (NPPF) reduces more than 1,000 pages of guidance to 52 and aims to make the system more accessible to the public, to lift barriers blocking new development and promote sustainable growth.

The plans have come under fire from a number of organisations ranging from English Heritage to the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) which object to the inclusion of a paragraph pledging a "presumption in favour of sustainable development". It claims the clause will amount to a developers’ charter and has urged the government to rethink the proposals.

John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "We need to get the debate on planning reform away from hysteria and back to common sense."

Sidney Bobb, chairman of British Association of Print and Communication (BAPC) added: "Many of our members will welcome the simplification of planning policy and the removal of red tape, which is problematic for many businesses."