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Press Release

National Arts Bodies Condemn Absence of Arts and Culture in Draft National Policy Planning Framework

5 October 2011

VAGA has joined fellow national arts bodies in calling for inclusion of arts and culture in National Planning Policy Framework. The following letter was published in the Sunday Telegraph2 October:

SIR – Greg Clark, the planning minister, in his introduction to the draft National Planning Policy Framework, says that planning is a creative exercise to improve the places in which we live. This statement is welcome, but the NPPF fails to promote and protect facilities, spaces and initiatives which enable culture and the arts to take place.

As senior representatives of national arts bodies, with networks and members whose activities and audiences are directly affected by the planning system, we are concerned about the omission of policies that would explicitly promote and protect cultural activities.

Our theatres, concert halls, art galleries, museums, libraries, public art initiatives, craft venues and artists’ studios matter. They help promote economic growth, enhance the built environment and develop sustainable communities. They are also hubs around which our world-leading creative industries have sprung up and flourished.

But the NPPF is currently silent on culture and, as a result, we are at risk of losing important cultural facilities and activities that can and do make a significant contribution to our civic pride, wellbeing and quality of life. We need a planning framework that promotes culture, not one that ignores it.



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Visual Arts and Galleries Association

Visual Arts and Galleries Association

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