The minister in charge of planning has denied he is considering a U-turn over controversial proposals to change the law to encourage more house building.

Greg Clark also attacked the National Trust for using pictures of Los Angeles in a campaign, saying the inference of urban sprawl on the scale of the US city was "not going to happen here".

The government wants to simplify the planning process and is insisting on a "presumption of yes" for most planning applications.

In a conciliatory move, the minister has offered to discuss changes to some of the wording of the proposed legislation after widespread criticism from groups like the National Trust and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.

Mr Clark told Today presenter John Humphrys that the government believes "localism rules" in the new planning regime it has envisaged.

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