Government’s lost chance to achieve levelling up
We have lamented the government’s failure to equalise the provision of green spaces for all. Responding to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the society sets out its priorities for government in a five-point plan. The society wants to see: 1 an improvement in the process…
Read More
Government promise on green space and water: how will it happen?
The government, in its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) published on 31 January, has pledged that ‘the public will benefit from a new commitment to access green space or water within a 15-minute walk from their home, such as woodlands, wetlands, parks and rivers’. We welcome the words but are concerned about the lack of detail,…
Read More
Environmental Improvement Plan 2023
The Government’s long-awaited Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) for England was published on 31 January. It claims to set out a five-year delivery plan to restore nature and improve the environmental quality of the air, waters, and land. It includes a new commitment that everyone should live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue…
Read More
Pavements are for pedestrians
We are working with Living Streets and the Ramblers to persuade the House of Lords to adopt our amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) to keep pavements free for the public. During the pandemic, the Business and Planning Act 2020 was introduced temporarily to streamline the procedure for allowing eating, drinking, and…
Read More
Public money for what?
We are deeply dismayed by the Prospectus, published on 26 January by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which sets out the various actions for which farmers and land managers will be paid under the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS). Defra claims that there is something there for everyone, but sadly, this…
Read More
OEP assessment: government falling short
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has published its assessment of government progress on the 25-year environment plan, concluding that this progress has fallen short of expectations. There have been some improvements in air quality in recent years and people’s engagement with nature is also up markedly. Although welcome these are likely to in part…
Read More
National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation: our hopes and fears
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) issued a consultation on 22 December seeking views on how to develop national planning policy in England, to support the government’s wider objectives. The proposals include amendments to the NPPF, the preparation of National Development Management Plans (NDMPs), policy to support levelling up, and how national…
Read More
Autumn crisis
Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook reflects on the current attack on the environment. ‘… now it is time unequivocally to act’ wrote Louis MacNeice in Autumn Journal in 1938. And so it is in this autumn, when government has suddenly made a full-frontal onslaught on the environment, nature, and our enjoyment of them. First there…
Read More
Planning undermined
The society is deeply concerned about recent government announcements on planning, deregulation and growth. Our case officer Nicola Hodgson gives an update on the alarming situation. The government’s Growth Plan will damage the environment, public access, and local democracy. The new policies appear to conflict with the ambitions and targets of the Environment Act, and…
Read More
Threat to farming funds for access
We are deeply concerned to learn that the government may renege on its commitment to use agricultural payments for environmental and access improvements. The recent statement from Defra gives us little comfort. With other organisations we have, for the last six years, pushed relentlessly for agricultural funding in the Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) to…
Read More- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next »