The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has joined 17 other organisations to launch a ‘Vision for Planning’ in answer to the Government’s new changes.
The vision calls on the government to rethink major elements of its planning proposals and work on a planning system that puts people, climate and nature at its heart.
The call comes from a broad united coalition of housing, planning, transport, environmental, heritage and public health organisations working together to forge their alternative ‘Vision for planning’ in response to the Planning White Paper, published in August last year. The government is expected to make another announcement in March about the proposals in the White Paper.
The joint ‘Vision for planning’ was launched at a virtual debate with speakers including the Housing Minister the Rt Hon Chris Pincher MP and was chaired by London City Hall’s Night Czar Amy Lamé.
Tom Fyans, deputy chief executive of CPRE, said: “We all deserve a home we can genuinely afford to live in, and to have a say in shaping the communities around us. And for more than 70 years, the planning system made sure that can happen. But as things stand, under the government’s current proposals, the opportunity for our communities to influence what happens would be halved.
“Before Christmas, the government announced a welcome revision of its housing numbers ‘algorithm’. However, this was only one small part of a range of potentially damaging proposals put forward by the government last year. That’s why we’re calling on Ministers to take an equally pragmatic approach to improving policies relating to community voice, affordable homes and access to green spaces. Together, we can develop a planning system fit for the 21st century.
Dorset CPRE supports a locally-led democratic planning system rather than deregulated proposals. Peter Bowyer, Dorset CPRE Chair of Trustees, said:
“Building excessive housing can only be at the expense of our very special environment and our communities. Our environment is Dorset’s greatest economic asset. Our communities need appropriate homes to meet local need, including truly affordable homes for young families whom we need to keep and attract to work here and so help grow Dorset’s economy.
www.dorset-cpre.org.uk
0333 577 0360