The cross-sector partnership of lead national and international bodies – including the IHBC and the Friends of the Earth (FoE) – that signed a Joint Statement to ‘express our deep concern about the latest proposals for the expansion of Permitted Development Rights (PDR) in England’ has been featured in the letters to the Telegraph.
… joint statement … represents a very positive coming together of the natural and historic environment sectors….
IHBC Chair David McDonald said: ‘The IHBC has already expressed its concerns about a number of recent changes to permitted development rights. These concerns are shared by many other organisations and I have had no hesitation in signing this joint statement which represents a very positive coming together of the natural and historic environment sectors.’
The signatories write:
… [proposals will] extinguish local democracy, and end public participation…
… We urge the Government to think again about its proposals to allow high street businesses to be changed to housing without full planning permission. Based on recent experience, we believe that the proposals, if enacted, will lower housing standards and accessible, natural green infrastructure provision, extinguish local democracy, and end public participation.
Permissions for over one million new homes are already in place but these have not been built out, according to the Local Government Association. There is little case to be made that the current system does not deliver consent for development.
We believe that local people and businesses are best placed to lead the change in town centres – for example, in providing more space for health and wellbeing purposes.
The planning system needs to ensure: local, democratically accountable decisions; the right to have a say over all development decisions; more genuinely affordable homes for local people; environmental protection and recovery for biodiversity; heritage protection and provision of accessible green space and conservation; and strong climate mitigation and adaptation duties.
[Alongside IHBC Chair David McDonald, signatories include (see website)]:
Miriam Turner and Hugh Knowles, Co-Chief Executives, Friends of the Earth; Hugh Ellis, Director of Policy, Town and Country Planning Association, and Crispin Truman, Chief Executive, CPRE etc.
For more background see the NewsBlog
Telegraph Letters (paywall protected)
