The draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the guidelines on which local and neighbourhood plans should be based.
At its heart is a presumption in favour of sustainable development.
The government says this will help ensure that planning encourages growth rather than acts as an impediment.
But the draft framework also includes measures that ministers claim will protect communities and safeguard the natural and historic environment.
Among them are measures the government says will protect the green belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
In addition, the government says the draft framework delivers on a commitment to allow communities to earmark important local green spaces.
The draft National Planning Policy Framework can be found in full here. A summary can be found here.
Councils will be expected to work closely with communities and businesses and actively seek opportunities for sustainable growth.
This will include helping to rebuild the economy by delivering the necessary homes, jobs, and infrastructure while protecting the environment.
Planning minister Greg Clark said the guidance would mean a simpler, swifter system that was much easier to understand
National planning policy and guidance has become so bloated that it contained more words than the complete works of Shakespeare, he said.
"Clarity in planning has become lost in translation," said Mr Clark.
There would now be a 12-week consultation for feedback.
"We now want to hear the thoughts of councils, communities and businesses on the draft framework and work together to get the planning system right."
Rural stakeholders are divided over the merits of the proposed measures.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England said the draft guidance represented the biggest shake-up of planning for over 50 years.
Although an improvement on an earlier leaked version, the guidance would place the countryside under increasing threat as the economy recovered.
CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers said: "The new framework will make the countryside and local character much less safe from damaging and unnecessary development.
"If it is not amended, there will be battles against development across the country that will make the public revolt against the sale of the forests look like a tea party."
But the Country Land and Business Association said the guidance was "better than expected" for rural areas and would help boost the economy.
It would encourage sensible housing development across all rural settlements to enable people to both work and live in the countryside.
CLA president William Worsley said: "The economic pillar of sustainable development appears to be back at the table along with the social and environmental pillars.
