Not in East Devon, nor indeed in the UK, as pointed out in this letter in the Exmouth Journal (04/12/2014):

‘Last week Hugo Swire told us that his party is committed to protecting the natural environment, keeping development sustainable etc. But that view is not shared across the country.
The Government planning policies have failed to protect communities from rapid and disproportionate development. That was the widespread view of those, like me, who had been invited form all parts of the country to Westminster in September to give evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee.
Everyone had stories to share of large tracts of agricultural land being built on; villages doubled in size; brownfield sites in the centre of old industrial towns being left, while the green fields around the margins are being built on because it is cheaper; extensive building in flood plains; the green belt eroded; AONB protection swept aside.
All this is happening under the guise of sustainable development because of the Government’s drive for house building at any cost and in any place. But the term sustainable is so ill defined that using wooden cladding or installing plastic plumbing in place of copper and a low flush toilet, ticks the box.
No thought is being given to social or environmental sustainability. Yes, we need housing to meet local needs, particularly affordable housing. But we are not getting it and we have sacrificed a lot of agricultural land in the process. Affordable housing promised in planning applications disappears when developers plead poverty. I understand none of the affordable housing promised by Tesco in Seaton, for example, will be built.
David Daniel’