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Here is the Government’s response to the consultation All of England’s landscapes are important, but National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) are our most iconic and beautiful places. Based on their geology and history, these characteristic landscapes contain swathes of ancient woodland, deep peat and grassland, and many of our most threatenedContinue reading “The Glover Review”

George Monbiot Since 2007, people in Totnes had been working to transform a big derelict site, previously a milk-processing factory run by Dairy Crest, into a community project called Atmos.’  Among the most important democratic questions is how the land surrounding us is used. Is it providing homes we can afford, public services and greenContinue reading “England’s right-to-build laws are tokenistic and feeble – just ask the people of Totnes”

The CPRE note: As sources for the government confirm that they will be pausing their unpopular plans to change planning rules, we celebrate a successful campaign and urge Michael Gove: ‘take a fresh look’. Just over a year after the government put forward their original plans to change the rules that control what gets built and where, we’reContinue reading “‘Pause on Planning for the Future White Paper proposals’”

Ministers drop shake-up of planning laws George Grylls, Political Reporter Saturday September 11 2021, 12.00pm, The Times The biggest shake-up of planning laws for 70 years is set to be abandoned after a backlash from voters and Tory MPs in southern England. Reforms designed to help ministers hit a target of 300,000 new homes annuallyContinue reading

When it was predicted that Brexit would cause long-term harm to the UK economy (before the onset of the pandemic, numerous studies estimated the likely economic effects of Brexit and almost all predicted the impact to be negative in the long term (eg Dhingra et al., 2017; HM Treasury 2016) the predictions were dismissed asContinue reading “Economic harm – Brexit and COVID”

George Monbiot September 2021 Dig for victory: this, repurposed from the second world war, could be the slogan of our times. All over the world, governments are using the pandemic and the environmental crisis to justify a new splurge of infrastructure spending. In the US, Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure framework “will make our economy more sustainable, resilient,Continue reading “We can’t build our way out of the environmental crisis”

Anthony Mangnall, MP for Totnes and Brixham, writes in today’s Western Morning News: But do his proposals go far enough? “South Devon is home to some of the most extraordinary views, landscapes and coastlines.  As a representative of the area, I am only too aware of the privilege I have in speaking up for suchContinue reading “LOCAL MP REPEATS HIS ARGUMENTS TO DEAL WITH SECOND HOMES”

Beauty-still-betrayed.pdf (cpre.org.uk) Executive summary: Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), are some of the UK’s most distinctive and cherished landscapes. Despite this, for several years there have been concerns about an ambiguity in the policy wording that underpins the planning protection for AONBs. This is leading to local authorities findingdifficulty in applying weight to theContinue reading “Beauty still betrayed: State of our AONBs 2021”

Planning for the future: the white paper one year on By Emma Atkins 6th August 2021 One year ago today, the government published its Planning for the Future white paper, a blueprint for the biggest shake-up of the planning system since the Second World War. In the foreword, the Prime Minister vowed to ‘tear it downContinue reading “One Year On!”

Robert Jenricks vast overhaul of the planning system has hit a further setback after the Government quietly u-turned on plans to scrap the duty on developers to build affordable housing on small sites. There has been fierce criticism.  In an open letter issued shortly after the Prime Minister’s build, build, build speech, the chief executive of the Royal TownContinue reading “Another u-turn on planning changes”