On the 25th July 2011 the draft National Planning Policy Framework was published by Government. After the release of the Natural Environment White Paper in June this year conservation organisations have been highly anticipating the publication of the Framework, which represents the next step in terms of implementing the declarations of the White Paper.
The document, which integrates the Government’s economic, environmental and social planning policies for England, was issued alongside a statement from the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, who 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 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 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 to deliver a healthy natural environment for the benefit of everyone and safe places which promote wellbeing. 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 goes on to support 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.
The Planning Framework is now open for consultation until the 17th of October 2011 and followed by a series of events taking place across the UK. Read the full document here.
My first impression on skimming through the draft Planning Framework is that the above BES description cherry-picks the best parts of the document some of which are very appealing to nature-conservation-minded ecologists (including myself)- but incredibly naiveley omits to show as that all these good attributes are almost totally made subservient to the very obvious over-riding emphasis on promotion of economic growth by allowing unrestrained development, with deregulation of planning restrictions and conditions that have helped up to now to protect the environment. Eg “Planning must operate to encourage growth and not act as an impediment”. In fact – it reverses the whole emphasis and meaning of planning re the countryside from constraining loss of the countryside to promoting loss of countryside – to building-development. It is underlain by a neoliberal type of conservative political ideology (unleash profit-making big business greed-is-good from regulatory constraints), and promotes an associated economic GROWTH model which many ecologists see as obselete for a future to cope with climate change by resilience and with declining natural resources. Why should one ideology – favoured by big business and many of the rich and powerful, coupled with an increasingly dubious economic model – be allowed such a strong emphasis – when many of as find this thinking abhorrent.
The “nice bits” referred to in the BES are typical of the present government – the way it puts up a green-screen to hide what it actually wants to do – which is exactly the opposite (I could give many examples. It’s first one was “greenest gov ever” then eg (1 of many) its current support for tar sands oil despite having the highest production emissions of carbon as cf Cameron’s claims to reduce emissions – s if outsource carbon is OK then). – This green-screening is a frequent gov ploy – but missed by the writer of the text above. So the planning framework is full of contradictions – which it realizes – so tries to resolve that by saying that they are not the contradictions they seem to be (so that resolves that then?).
I hope my initial interpretation is incorrect – and that yours turns out to be correct, but the gov’s track record suggests I may be right. http://www.twitter.com/@henryadamsUK
Pingback: Ecology and Policy Blog » Blog Archive » Government to Publish National Planning Policy Framework