Latest News - November 2011

We're speaking out for Doncaster’s countryside next week, when Doncaster Council’s plans for the next 15 years are decided.

We've been invited to speak at the formal Examination in Public of Doncaster’s Core Strategy. This is the key document that decides on how much building and development will be allowed in the borough, and where it will go. We’ll be there, fighting for our local countryside.

We've been campaigning for many years to get Doncaster’s Green Belt extended all the way around the borough. We've argued successfully for the question of Green Belt to be included in the Examination in Public. We believe that countryside on the eastern side of Doncaster is unprotected and under increasing pressure for economic development.

We’ve got inspector looking at the issue now, and we want him to agree that extending the Green Belt is crucial! Doncaster needs to fasten up its Green Belt and save vulnerable land from development. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

At the same time, we're lobbying against the Government’s draft National Planning Policy Framework, the biggest shake up of the planning system for fifty years. They will mean chaos for the planning system. Now more than ever, it is crucial that solid plans are agreed and in place to save our countryside.
 

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Look out for us in and around Sheffield over the next few weeks. We'll be hard to miss with our five foot wide postcard! The postcard shows how the much loved Rivelin and Loxley Valleys could look if the Government's draft National Planning Policy Framework goes ahead.

We'll be sending the card to Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister and MP for Sheffield Hallam. We want him to to get the draft NPPF radically rewritten, and save our countryside.

We'll be at

• Sheffield Town Hall
• Howard Street
• Sheffield University
• Local farmers' markets

So please come down, show your support and sign the back of the card! You can also sign our petition online.

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Yorkshire still has plenty of brownfield land to use for housing and development. Yet Government proposals risk neglecting large areas in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield which need regeneration - and place the countryside at risk.

A new report published by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Building in a Small Island, challenges claims that there is a shortage of brownfield land suitable for housing development. The findings bring into question the Government’s proposed national planning policies that would no longer require developers to use previously developed land for any new development before greenfield sites are considered.

The research commissioned by CPRE found that - far from running out - the supply of brownfield land is dynamic and even increasing in some places. For every five suitable housing plots becoming available in England between 2001 and 2009, only three homes where built. In Yorkshire and the Humber, local authorities have used the current planning system to prioritise 2,500 hectares brownfield land for development, taking the pressure off valuable greenfield land. The report also shows that a similar amount of brownfield land is still available in Yorkshire and the Humber for potential development.

So we’re not running out of brownfield land! That’s a myth. Developers should always use appropriate brownfield land for new housing and developments first – it’s the most environmentally, socially and economically sustainable option.

The brownfield first approach was first introduced in 1995. The study found that over 143 square miles of brownfield land have been developed for housing since 1995 - safeguarding large areas of Green Belt and other countryside across England. If this development had taken place on greenfield land, an area seven times the size of Southampton, or over 52,647 football pitches, would have been lost to new development.

We know that there’s a need for more housing. But making it easier for developers to build on more profitable greenfield sites when there are still plenty of brownfield areas in South Yorkshire that need regeneration is really wrong. The brownfield first approach must be included in the Government’s final National Planning Policy Framework. South Yorkshire’s land is a finite resource, and we should recycle it whenever possible.
 

Keep the brownfield first policy!

Please sign our petition to Nick Clegg demanding that the new National Planning Policy Framework keeps the brownfield first policy.

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We're calling on Nick Clegg to stick to his green principles and radically rewrite government changes to the planning system. We've written an open letter to the Deputy Prime Minister and MP for Sheffield Hallam reminding him of his past pledges to the countryside. We're campaigning against the Government’s proposals for a new National Planning Policy Framework. The public consultation for the NPPF closed in October, but we are continuing to lobby for drastic changes.

See coverage by Yorkshire Post this weekend.

“The draft National Planning Policy Framework fails to value the countryside for its own sake, prioritises economic development over sustainable development and will wreak havoc on greenfield land,” said Carol Robinson, our Chief Executive. “When Nick Clegg spoke to us about the future of the countryside three years ago, he said “…our plans for land must always be green. Fixing the economy must never come at the expense of protecting the environment.”  However this is precisely what the NPPF would do!”

“Nick Clegg also said, “For me, and my party, land is valuable for land’s own sake. Not for what we can use it for, or how much money we can make out of it. But simply because we value our natural environment.” Given that the NPPF no longer includes the policy of valuing the countryside for its own sake, we wrote to tell him his words seem very hollow now.”

We're concerned about the impact that planning changes will have on South Yorkshire’s countryside, especially to much-loved Green Belt land in Nick Clegg’s own Sheffield Hallam ward.

“The people of Sheffield love and value the city’s Golden Frame – the beautiful Green Belt land that protects the Peak District National Park. Much of this land is in Nick Clegg’s constituency. It is under threat if the current NPPF goes ahead,” added Carol Robinson.

“So we’re throwing our green gauntlet at Nick Clegg! We want him to use his influence as Deputy Prime Minister to ensure the NPPF is radically revised before it is issued next year. Otherwise, people will remember him for more broken promises.”

Please sign our petition to Nick Clegg.
 

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Here's the letter we've sent to Nick Clegg MP and local press. Please support us and sign our petition.

Dear Nick,

Throwing you our green gauntlet!

You know about CPRE’s serious concerns about the Government’s plans to reform the planning system. We believe that the draft National Planning Policy Framework fails to value the countryside for its own sake, prioritises economic development over sustainable development and will wreak havoc on greenfield land.

We are incredibly surprised that you stand behind this attempt to subvert the planning system just because you believe removing tried and tested planning safeguards will kick start the economy! What really astounds us is the fact that you appear to have abandoned your previously firmly-held green principles - which you stated were core to the LibDem’s way of thinking.

Three years ago we invited you to Sheffield to talk about the future of the countryside. You said that “our plans for land must always be green. Fixing the economy must never come at the expense of protecting the environment.” However that is precisely what the NPPF would do.

You also said, “I want to be really clear here… for me, and my party, land is valuable for land’s own sake. Not for what we can use it for, or how much money we can make out of it. But simply because we value our natural environment.” Given that the NPPF retracts the former policy of valuing the countryside for its own sake, your words now seem very hollow.

The people of Sheffield love and value the city’s Golden Frame – the beautiful green belt land that protects the Peak District National Park. Much of this land is in your constituency! It will be threatened if the current NPPF goes ahead.

So we’d like to throw you a green gauntlet! Tell us that you will ensure the NPPF is radically revised before it is issued next year. We believe that you have to do this if you are to shake off the perception that you and your party have broken yet more promises.

Yours sincerely

Carol Robinson
Chief Executive, CPRE South Yorkshire 
 

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