26 July 2011 National Planning Policy Framework
After the release of the Natural Environment White Paper in June '11 the publication of the Framework represents the next step in terms of implementing the declarations of the White Paper. The document integrates the Government's economic, environmental and social planning policies for England, Caroline spelman the Environment Secretary said, 'It will give local communities the power to protect green spaces that mean so much to them, while still giving the highest protection to our treasured landscapes such as national parks and AONBs. It will also ensure that development needed to grow the economy is carried out in a sustainable way."
The Government's objective as stated in the Framework is that planning should help deliver a healthy natural environment for the benefit of everyone and safe places which promote well being. to achieve this objective, the document states that the planning system should aim to conserve and enhance the natural and local environment by protecting valued landscapes, minimise impacts on biodiversity and provide net gains where possible. The report also makes the statement that planning permission should be refused if significant harm resulting from a development cannot be avoided, adequately mitigated, or as a last resort, compensated for.
The Framework supports the Lawton Review and the White Paper with its goals to minimise impacts on biodiversity by stating that planning policy should take into account the need to plan for biodiversity at a landscape-scale as well as identify and map components of the local ecological networks, including international, national and local sites. In line with EU targets the Framework states that planning will promote the preservation, restoration and re-creation of priority habitats, ecological networks and the recovery of priority species populations.
In terms of climate change the Government's objective is that planning should fully support the transition to a low carbon economy in a changing climate, taking full account of flood risk and coastal change. To achieve this objective, the planning system should aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support energy efficiency improvements to existing buildings, deliver renewable and low-carbon energy infrastructure and provide resilience to impacts arising from climate change. BES Ecology & Policy Blog 26 July 2011
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4 July 2011 Fears for England's natural beauty spots as UK planning regulations relax
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) today highlighted fears for England's natural beauty spots. The charity claims that a relaxation of government planning policy in favour of UK growth and development will threaten the future integrity of England's AONB's. Proposals for nuclear power plants, motorways, housing developments, mining and onshore wind farms are all at present going through planning, and are expected to degrade AONB's if accepted. These include well known beauty spots that are regarded as highly important for both native biodiversity conservation and outdoor recreation such as the Cotswold AONB. The Localism Bill which includes decisions to relax planning has reached Committee stage and was discussed by the House of Lords on Tues 5th July. The publication of a new National Planning Policy Framework detailing future plans is expected later in July. BES Ecology & Policy Blog 4th July 2011.
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Tues 5th April 2011 The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for communities and Local Government (Mr Robert Neill) issued this statement:
"The Coalition Government is committed to enabling the abolition of Regional Strategies through the Localism Bill, in order to return decision-making powers in housing and planning to local authorities and the communities they serve. I wish to inform the house that the Government has decided to carry out an environmental assessment of the revocation of the Regional Strategies. I make it clear that the Government are undertaking this assessment on a voluntary basis. We consider that it would be useful to assess whether there are any significant environmental effects of revoking each regional strategy. We intend to compile an environmental report for each region and to consult on it in line with the process laid down in the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004. Local authorities and others should find this helpful in identifying issues relevant to their areas and policies or initiatives with perparing or reviewing their own plans".
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The SWEN 2010 Environment Priorities were launched on March 30th and a downloadable pdf is available here: SWEN 2010 Environment Priorities. The discussion of the Environment Priorities at our 30th March plenary fully endorsed SWEN's direction and confirmed the long wish list of things to do given the resources. As Richard Cresswell from the Environment Agency indicated in his opening delivery, partnerships and effective networking are now more important than ever with the current reduced resource availability. He emphasised the strength of SWEN is the Network itself which is key to delivery of the priorities. If you would like more detail on this please contact Jo Traill Thomson.
The Management Group for 2011 is: Mark Robins - RSPB, Kevin Ward - Environment Agency, Phil Collins - Natural England, Dave Dixon - SW Protected Landscapes, Simon Brenman - SW Wildlife Trusts, Steve Crummay - Cornwall County Council and Cate le Grice-Mack (CPRE). The Management Group will operate without a Chair and will allocate tasks across the group. Where required the first point of contact is Jo Traill Thomson.
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