Landscape — the Journal of the Landscape Institute

Please can the full response be made avaialable to all members. I can understand that the Select Committee may not want it to be piblished but Ithe membership are surely entitled to see the response made in their name. If I have missed a link I apologise. Many thanks.

I too would like to see the draft.I don’t think that debating the definition of ‘sustainable’ will get us very far.
One of the main concerns is that the presumption in favour of sustainable development puts the onus on local planning authorities to demonstrate that a development is not acceptable in terms permanent harm to valued natural assets, with neither the resources properly to assess this, nor the former protection relied apon in PPSs.
It is all very well the Minister saying that National Parks, AONBs and the Green Belt will be protected, but without protection of the countryside ‘for it’s own sake’, many valued areas of countryside outside nationally designated landscapes will be at risk.We remember that the protection given to AGLVs,SLAs and the like was removed because it was felt to be unnecessary because of the ‘protection for its own sake’ clause. And what about priority to developing ‘brown field’ sites?

I first became aware of this extreme weakening of the planning system when both the District Councils in my area began desperately consulting on their Local Development Framework and I replied along these lines:

I am all in favour of the general thrust of the Localism bill and agree that there is a better way of doing things. Local authorities can do their job best when they have a genuine freedom to respond to what people want and many of the ideas are a big improvement and I agree that innovation in public services and local people working together can achieve a great deal, however when it comes to planning I am less convinced – the evidence from the efforts at voluntary planning surveys and plan making that I have seen is that neighbourhood development plans will only work in very favourable situations and are not a universal answer.

In theoretically protected GREEN areas, such as the AONB in which I live, despite a succession of policy documents and management plans, the situation on the ground has continued to deteriorate. Year on year the cumulative effect of many (often small) decisions, for unnecessary or mediocre developments have severely damaged the landscape, the environment and traditional character of all the villages. Most of the small local farmsteads have been converted to residential use, local shops have been lost, pubs and Post Offices threatened with closure, making it harder to maintain truly rural communities.

It is difficult to find many examples of outstanding design or developments that have improved the character of either urban or rural areas. You may argue that this is a national malaise but if the planning authorities had interpreted their policies more strongly in the interests of conservation rather than development things could perhaps have been very different.

I find that the previous relatively strong policies (at least on paper) have been considerably weakened in the present draft National Planning Framework. In practice the present planning policy is often weak and open to being easily overwhelmed by the elaborate and sophisticated arguments put forward by developers – who often having the resources to employ their own more experienced and qualified experts, including Landscape architects (with more time to make the case than hard pressed local authority officers!

Surprisingly - the old planning system operated by the County Councils was generally more effective and fair than the more local system that replaced it after Local Government Re-organisation in 1974. People find it difficult to criticise the actions of close neighbours and wealthy and powerful individuals can more easily dominate the local debate (it can sometimes amount to bullying) and it is often not easy or possible to arrive at disinterested or rational decisions that takes account of wider issues.

This was the strength of the old County Planning Departments, they there were well staffed with a wide range of experienced professionals and the Councillors were often (though not always) drawn from a wider pool, sometimes providing a higher calibre candidate less easily swayed by local arguments and party dogma. To be realistic – you are more likely to get a fair planning decision from this higher level of local government than at a local District or Parish Council level although these Councils are essential for providing information on local issues that must be taken into account.

When the government mentions green infrastructure, it’s now within the context of “green energy” etc rather than the accepted definition.  Amazingly the Lawton report didn’t manage to mention Green Infrastructure once, when properly planned GI networks would be and are supportive of that report’s aims.  Natural England is now talking about setting up some form of national GI partnership, but it all seems to be very late in the day.

Good to see so many well-informed comments on what is an important topic. Policy Committee should have lots of good candidates to choose from next time it’s recruiting….!

My understanding is there were Select Committee constraints on publishing, requiring us to get the Committee’s permission - and we have asked for it - once received the LI response will be made available. 

Almost certainly the ELC will have been covered - it goes into all our consultation responses.

The priority to develop brownfield land goes with the Localism Bill (expected November this year).

DEFRA is launching its GI Partnership soon.  LI Policy Department has been working very closely with DEFRA and the LI GI and Localism document will be launched on 11 October.  This is a very small gathering with 3 of our members speaking about case studies - but about which Policy and Communications department hopes to get good press coverage.  The document will then be available for members to use.

Hope this helps with a few of the above points.

The submission to which Flora Parkin refers is the one that we sent in on 28 February 2011. The current submission to the Select Committee remains embargoed but we believe this embargo may be lifted later this week.

Please note that the link above is to the LI response to the specific questions set out in the Commons Select Committee enquiry into the NPPF.

The main LI response to the government’s consultation on the NPPF is in the final stages of drafting as the deadline is on Monday 17 October.  Whereas the Commons Select Committees do not allow publication of evidence until they have accepted and published it themselves, there is no obstacle to our publishing our response to the government’s consultation as soon as it is sent in.

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