planning to protect the countryside ramblers general council 13 april 2013 paul miner, ma mrtpi frgs...
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Planning to protect the countryside
Ramblers General Council
13 April 2013
Paul Miner, MA MRTPI FRGS
Senior Planning Officer
• Pledge to maintain national protective designations
• New legislation aims:• deregulation • more local
autonomy • community
involvement
•Planning policy changes
• New CPRE report: Countryside Promises, Planning Realities
The Coalition and planning
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
Localism Act: the main changes
• General power of competence
• Pre-determination rules
• Pre-application consultation
• New enforcement powers
• National projects: some procedural
changes
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• Intrinsic value of countryside (17)•National and local landscape designations (113-116)•Local authorities should protect ‘areas of tranquillity’ (123)•Plan for biodiversity at a landscape scale (114)•Local green space (76-77)•Open space / National Trails (74/75)•Undeveloped coast (114)
The wider countryside: relevant national policies
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
Development plans: the main changes
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• No RSS, but a ‘duty to co-operate’
• More flexibility to prepare ‘Local Plans’
• SPDs discouraged unless promoting development
• Neighbourhood Plans
• LPA discretion to review inspector recommendations and re-submit
• Local finance considerations
• Need to meet ‘full, objectively
assessed needs’ • Five year supply plus 5% - 20%
buffer• Encourage use of brownfield
land, including windfalls• Rural Exception Sites • Viability / deliverability
Housing development: the main changes
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• Onus on planning authorities to secure good land management
• New tests for new or extended Green Belt
• Defining boundaries
• Brownfield sites and ‘local transport infrastructure’
Green Belt: the main changes
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• Greater focus on local plans
• Local Enterprise Partnerships
(LEPs)
• ‘Town centre first’ remains, but
with exemptions
• Enterprise Zones and added
pressure to remove unreasonable
employment land allocations
Town centres and business development: the main changes
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• Strong design policy, considering
local character, history, identity
and materials
• Designation of new conservation
areas is strongly discouraged
• Stronger and tighter focus on the
significance of heritage assets
Heritage and design
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• Growth and Infrastructure Bill:
changes to stopping up of public
paths and town / village greens
•Permitted development rights to
be extended
• ‘Poorly performing’ local
planning authorities in special
measures
• Matthew Taylor: review of
guidance
It’s not just the NPPF…
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• Have your say on local plans and promote countryside protection policies and priorities. Submit your ideas at the earliest stage.• Use the concept of ‘smart growth’ to respond to Government economic priorities• Respond to planning applications• Get involved in producing neighbourhood or parish plans
How you can influence planners
Will planners continue to value the countryside?
• National campaigns to protect wider countryside, and to reduce noise and light pollution
• Local planning expertise: network of county branches and district groups
• Planning Hotline, Thursday afternoon, available to CPRE members
• Planning Help website
How CPRE can help
Will planners continue to value the countryside?