Ministers should remove the default answer of "yes" to development from the National Planning Policy Framework, said the Communities and Local Government select committee.
The recommendation is contained in the report by the influential cross-party group of MPs.
The committee also criticises the presumption that all planning applications be approved unless adverse effects "significantly and demonstrably" outweigh the benefits.
It wants the phrase "significant and demonstrably" removed on the basis that it adds a further barrier to the achievement of truly sustainable development.
The full document can be read here. It was launched by committee chairman Clive Betts on Wednesday (21 December).
"The way the framework is drafted currently gives the impression that greater emphasis should be given in planning decisions to economic growth," he said.
This undermines the equally important environmental and social elements of the planning system.
"As currently drafted the 'default yes' to development also carries the risk of the planning system being used to implement unsustainable development."
The draft framework defined the phrase "sustainable development" inadequately and often conflated it with sustainable economic growth, said Mr Betts.
"We take reassurance from the fact that ministers have accepted that a cogent case has been made for expanding and strengthening the definition," he added.
Prime Minister David Cameron had been clear that sustainable development had environmental and social dimensions as well as an economic dimension.
Mr Betts said: "We also believe that a 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' should be a golden thread running through the planning system.
"We therefore welcome the planning minister Greg Clarke's reassurance that he is minded to make changes to address this risk."
The committee also concludes the NPPF should unambiguously reflect the statutory supremacy of Local Plans, in accordance with the 2004 Act.
MPs therefore want the framework to require local planning decisions to be taken in accordance with the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
In its review of the draft NPPF, MPs make clear recommendations about how to resolve potential conflict between the framework and Local Plans.
The committee also shares the government's view that it is unacceptable that so many parts of England have yet to develop and adopt a new Local Plan.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said the changes suggested by the report reflected many of its own aspirations for the final policy.
CPRE planning officer Kate Houghton said: "This report shows a strong cross-party consensus that the role of planning is to treat economic, environmental and social needs equally, not to favour short term economic growth at any cost."
She added: "The government must now make substantial changes to its proposed planning policies if we are to get the efficient, locally oriented and environmentally sensitive system we believe ministers want."
The Country Land and Business Association said the document "kept the door open" for change that would allow rural sustainable development.
And it welcomed the idea that a "presumption in favour of sustainable development" should run "like a golden thread" through the framework.
CLA president Harry Cotterell said: "The English countryside is not Disney World; it is a place where rural people live and work.
"Without sensible and well-designed sustainable development, the countryside and those who manage it will not be able to offer the jobs, housing and services that are vital for rural communities to survive."
