Latest News - March 2012

We are still afraid for the countryside following yesterday’s publication of the Government’s highly controversial National Planning Policy Framework.

Although some important improvements have been made to the NPPF, it could still be bad news for our countryside. Landscapes that local people love, from the Humberhead Levels to the South Pennine hills, and South Yorkshire’s rolling countryside and lovely valleys, are now more at risk from development.
 

Crucially the new NPPF replaces the former commitment to 'protect' the intrinsic beauty, character and beauty of the countryside, with a commitment to simply 'recognize' it instead.

Sites at risk

We’ve looked at sites that are now at risk in South Yorkshire. Thanks to the NPPF, developers could now steam ahead with more wind farms in sensitive landscapes in western Barnsley; giant distribution warehouses at Bradholme Farm in Doncaster; The Visions of China theme park at Rother Valley Country Park; and even housing estates on the edge of Stocksbridge or in Sheffield’s much loved Loxley Valley.

We certainly don't want to stop all development. Clearly South Yorkshire needs new housing and some of this is likely to be on greenfield sites. But now that there’s a default in favour of development and virgin greenfield land is more at risk, we’re scared that things are going to be worse than the development chaos of the 1980s. 

Fighting for the future

We’ve been fighting for a strong and effective planning system to protect our countryside since the 1920s, and we will carry on fighting! We will be pulling together with local communities to save South Yorkshire’s countryside from the worst excesses of these appalling changes.

Please get involved. Sign up for our eNewsletter to keep up to date, and join us or make a donation towards our crucial work looking after South Yorkshire's countryside today.

 

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There is free training on offer to people interested in the future of their communities in South Yorkshire.

We are running ‘Planning and Localism: How it can work for you’ at St John's Community Centre in Penistone on Saturday 17 March.

The timing of this training couldn’t be better for people who really want to make a difference to their neighbourhood.The Government is bringing in new ways for local people to get involved in planning, but the trouble is that not a lot of people know about what this could mean for them and where they live. The training will look specifically at how people can develop new neighbourhood plans.

Our planning officer John King is running the free, all day session, and says, “These new neighbourhood plans are potentially really important. They are written by the local community for their local community, and will actually carry the same weight as the Local Authority’s Development Plan which means that any new planning applications should comply with it. It is potentially real ‘power to the people’ stuff!”

The training is suitable for town and parish councillors, people working with community groups or anyone interested in planning issues and changing neighbourhoods for the better.

“But it’s not for NIMBYs. It is for people who really want to join in and contribute to finding solutions for their neighbourhoods. People will be able to protect their local playing fields or much-loved green spaces, but they will also need to work out where new developments should go,” John adds.

Planning and Localism: How it can work for you in at 11am – 4pm on Saturday 17 March at St John's Community Centre, Penistone S36 6RA.

Places are free, including lunch.  To book, please contact Lindsay or ring us on 0114 266 5822.

 

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