Video: Planning reform: Watership Down site 'under threat from housing' "Fiction is going to turn into fact unless we can stop it," said campaigner Dr David Cooper. According to Dr Cooper, the £70m development represents a "windfall" for the local authority, who he accussed of "distorting the planning process" in order to turn a site worth £7,000 an acre when arable into land worth £700,000 an acre as residential housing. Government proposals set out before the announcement today suggested the council would have little trouble gaining the necessary planning permission to build on the bucolic site, but late amendments to the NPPF mean that campaigners may yet win a reprieve for the countryside of Mr Adam's classic tale. A reinforced definition of what constitutes "sustainable development" under the NPPF and the re-admission of a "brownfield first" clause, as well as specific protection for green belt sites are likely to make the proposed development less easy to push through than previously feared.