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Indeed, the conflicts over how to use our land reflect the contradictions in our thinking of how to use resources in general:
Futures Forum: Climate Change solutions: "Revealing greater agreement than the pro-growth versus de-growth dichotomy suggests."
The Rural Services Network reports on a call by the Campaign to Protect Rural England to relook at these policy issues:
Sunday, 05 March 2017 14:07
Call for new approach to
rural land use
Written by Ruralcity Media
CAMPAIGNERS have called for a more strategic approach to rural land use and the countryside.
The proposals are contained in a new pamphlet published on Sunday (5 March) by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
A national approach to land use is more important than ever to tackle mounting pressure on the countryside, says the document.
The pamphlet argues that England's land is under an increasing multitude of pressures, from the drive for economic growth to the effects of climate change.
The current, fragmentary approach to land use fails to address the problems caused by conflicting demands, it says. This is because dozens of different organisations are responsible for different issues when it comes to land, argues the pamphlet.
Called Landlines: why we need a strategic approach to land, it says a longer term approach would enhance both the environment and the economy. Contributors include former environment minister Lord Deben, Woodland Trust chairwoman Baroness Young and architect Sir Terry Farrell.
Lord Deben, who served as environment secretary from 1993 to 1997, suggests the establishment of a government department of land use. There is "no hope of sensible land use" while different departments have responsibility for different aspects of planning, agriculture, infrastructure and transport, he argues. "We need a Department of Land Use which would bring the strategic elements of all these together."
Lord Deben says the "most urgent social need" for housing must not be at the expense of the countryside. "Rural land needs protection not just for its own intrinsic value but because ensuring the vibrancy of our towns and cities demands they are intensified, not extended. Bringing home, work, leisure, and worship together reinforces communities, reduces the need to travel, and makes the best use of that scarce resource – land."
CPRE head of government and rural affairs said a national land use strategy would bring treasury and infrastructure officials on board with environmentalists. It would also replace "piecemeal erosion" of the countryside with community trust.
A national plan for land would help to deliver greener transport systems, natural flood defences and sustainable housing. It would do so by making it easier for organisations to work would a common goal in mind.
Call for new approach to rural land use
Here is the full report from the CPRE:
Campaigners urge Government to tackle mounting pressure on land
5 March 2017
Experts say a national approach to land use can unite environment and economy
A new pamphlet released today by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) argues that the case for a national approach to land use is more pressing than ever [1].
CPRE’s pamphlet, ‘Landlines: why we need a strategic approach to land’, shows that England’s land is under an increasing multitude of pressures, from the drive for economic growth to the effects of climate change. The current, fragmentary approach to land use, with dozens of different organisations responsible for different issues, is failing to address the problems caused by often conflicting demands: environmental degradation, rising costs and harm to health and wellbeing [2].
The ‘Landlines’ pamphlet brings together a number of experts to argue for greater national coordination on land use, a longer term approach that can enhance both the environment and the economy. Architect Sir Terry Farrell, UK Committee on Climate Change Chair Lord Deben, and Chair of the Woodland Trust Baroness Young are among those who propose different national solutions for how we use our land.
Suggestions for better land use include a Government ‘Department of Land Use’ (Lord Deben); more involvement from the public in defining the value they get from land (Helen Meech); and using the opportunities provided by Brexit to rethink our use of agricultural land (Baroness Parminter).
Belinda Gordon, head of government and rural affairs at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said:
“Amidst the rush towards global competition and unrestrained economic growth, a national approach to how we use the land is more important than ever. We are making big decisions in isolation, and not thinking about what kind of wider pressures individual developments bring – to the land, the climate, the economy and our health and wellbeing.
“A national land use strategy would bring treasury and infrastructure officials on board with environmentalists, and replace piecemeal erosion of the countryside with exciting projects and community trust. Green transport networks, natural flood defences, sustainable housing developments, local food systems, more accessible parks: these can all be delivered if we get organisations working to the same ends through a national plan for the land.”
Sir Terry Farrell CBE, architect and urban planner, said:
“Pollution, climate change and the ever increasing reduction in natural species, as well as human city-making on an unprecedented scale, have made the proper planning of land use a top priority for our very survival in the long term.
“The scale, complexity and seriousness of these issues mean we cannot any longer proceed as before, treating land as a disposable asset. We have now got to plan proactively for rapid and radical change.”
ENDS
Notes for editors
[1] CPRE, Landlines: why we need a strategic approach to land, March 2017
[2] RSPB, State of Nature report, 2016; Wildlife Trusts & RSPB, A Nature and Wellbeing Act, 2014
[3] The pamphlet’s foreword was written by CPRE Chief Executive Shaun Spiers, with the overview written by Neil Sinden, freelance consultant and former CPRE Director of Policy and Campaigns. The full list of contributors is as follows:
Lord Deben, Chairman of the UK Committee on Climate Change
Corinne Swain OBE, Arup Fellow and former regional examination-in-public panel chair
Andrew Wescott, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Institution of Civil Engineers
Baroness Young, Chair of the Woodland Trust
Dame Georgina Mace, Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystems at University College London
Ian Bateman OBE, Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Exeter
Baroness Parminter, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on the environment, food and rural affairs
Merrick Denton-Thompson OBE FLI, President of the Landscape Institute
John Everitt, Chief Executive of the National Forest Company
Adrian Phillips CBE, former Director of the Countryside Commission
Helen Meech, Director of Rewilding Britain
Sir Terry Farrell, leading British architect and urban planner
Campaigners urge Government to tackle mounting pressure on land - Campaign to Protect Rural England
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