Significantly, they will remove the need to seek planning permission for smaller add-ons.

A move that will be welcome far and wide, especially at a time when many people are chosing to improve what they have while the housing market settles again.

In the past, homeowners and their builders have often been left kicking their heels while decisions were clarified.

At the same time planning offices creaked under mountains of relatively low key work.

A Catch-22 situation and one, until now, made worse by the the demands of a growing population.

Removing the tangle of red tape is undoubtedly a step forward and will lead to a welter of new extensions being built across Calderdale and the whole of the UK.

This will be a filip to the hard-pressed construction industry, which, like everyone else, is tightening its belt while counting the cost of the credit crunch.

But in removing the stringent rules that have governed planning until now, the Government must make absolutely certain it is not storing up a whole load of trouble for the future.

In some people's eyes, rules are there to be broken. There are specific size guidelines on what does and does not need permission.

The public must remain vigilant and make sure this does not become a free-for-all.

And the planning departments, should the need arise, must come down hard on those who try to twist the rules to their own ends.