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COUNTRYSIDE CAMPAIGNERS SET OUT STALL FOR FUTURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

16 March 2006

Local government plays an important role in deciding whether England's countryside is protected or lost. CPRE has this week submitted comments to Sir Michael Lyons' inquiry into the future of local government in England.

The core of our response is to agree with Sir Michael’s view that shaping a sense of place is central to local government’s strategic role. We welcome the Government’s agenda of ‘double devolution’ from central to local government and then from local government to communities and the voluntary sector.

National government also needs to provide a strong legal and policy framework, based on sustainable development and a strong planning system across the country. Only then will our local communities be able to tackle climate change and regional disparities in development, and protect the countryside in the face of powerful private interests.

In our submission, CPRE recommends:

  • Environmental sustainability should be at the forefront of local government’s strategic role.
  • A new legal duty of care for local authorities to take positive action to protect and enhance the historic environment.
  • Rapid progress with developing a national indicator of countryside quality promised by the Government in 2000.
  • Planning services should meet national standards in all areas.
  • Local Landscape Character Assessments, Parish Plans, Village Design Statements and Village Appraisals, carried out by individual parishes and communities, should be given more encouragement in national planning policy and built into Local Development Frameworks.

To read CPRE’s full submission to the Lyons Inquiry go to www.cpre.org.uk/resources/pub/pdfs/planning-and-development/planning/cpre-submission-lyons-enquiry-march-2006.pdf.

For more details about the consultation (which closed on 13 March 2006) go to the Inquiry website: www.lyonsinquiry.org.uk.



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