The Wildlife Trust's are concerned about the effect of reducing planning controls over development everywhere in the countryside. All the Conservation organisations are equally concerned.
Here is what the Campaign to Protect Rural England says on its web site:
"The Government has published a highly sensitive draft National Planning Policy Framework for public consultation. This represents the biggest shake-up of planning for over 50 years and CPRE believes it will place the countryside under increasing threat.
Many elements of the Framework are deeply worrying. In particular, Ministers have failed to commit to the principle that the countryside should be protected for its own intrinsic character, beauty and heritage.
The new Framework will make the countryside and local character much less safe from damaging and unnecessary development.
We fear pressure on the countryside from damaging development will grow due to:
- loss of emphasis on brownfield regeneration - as a result of the removal of the national brownfield target and the failure to promote efficient use of land
- over-allocation of land for new housing - the draft Framework requires local councils to allocate at least 20% additional sites for housing over and above the existing five year supply
- weakening of the ‘town centre first’ policy by removing office development from the sequential test
- pressure for increased car use - by removing the requirement to set maximum parking standards for non-residential parking in major development
- abolition of exceptions policy which allows small scale affordable housing to be built in rural settlements, which is likely to add to pressure for market housing and reduce the supply of affordable housing
- weakening of controls over outdoor advertisements, including no mention of billboards being inappropriate in the countryside
- changes to Green Belt policy which would allow local communities to support building which would previously have been restricted
Please help us protect our beautiful countryside by asking your MP to say no to growth at any cost.
Write to your MP
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here to view web site.
Or
here.
As part of forming an opinion on the proposed changes it is useful to review the views of other organisations such as the National Trust and RSPB.
