Media and policy round up: 3 January 2017
Media highlights
*Please note The Times, Financial Times, The Sun and some articles on the Daily Telegraph website
are now behind a pay wall, meaning you require a paid-for log-in to read them. Where no links are
provided below, the coverage is not accessible online. Please contact national office for more
details if you require them.
Inappropriate development in precious landscapes
CPRE was quoted in a Times article on 27 December on how planning permission for 600 houses at
Pease Pottage in the High Weald AONB could set a national precedent. The article also touched on
a similar planning permission at Milton-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire, and a planning application
in the North Wessex Downs.
The Times leader on the same day supported CPRE’s argument that AONBs are not being protected,
and that the Government needs to do more. The editorial also endorsed CPRE’s research indicating
that 1 million homes can be built on suitable brownfield land. Several letters on the article and
leader were published in the newspaper the following day (28 December).
CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers was then quoted prominently in an Observer article (1 January
2017) examining the current threats to England’s most precious landscapes. Framed around Shaun’s
concerns, the article referred to the High Weald decision, alongside pressures on National Parks and
huge funding pledges for infrastructure. Shaun said: “There’s a terrible sense right now that
ministers are just keen to say that Britain’s open for business at the expense of everything else. It’s
all justified on narrow economic grounds, and I’m not sure anyone is standing back and saying
‘what are the alternatives?’” This article was picked up by the Independent (1 January).
Garden villages
CPRE reacted with caution to a Government announcement (2 January) that it was supporting 14
new garden villages and three garden towns across England. Shaun Spiers said that garden villages
were a good idea if locally-led, respectful of planning designations and sought to meet actual, local
need. However, each proposal would have to be analysed carefully.
Kevin FitzGerald, honorary director of CPRE Hertfordshire, commented specifically on the Harlow
and Gilston garden town proposal, arguing that this inappropriate development would swallow two
existing villages in the Green Belt.
Shaun’s and Kevin’s wider comments were covered on the front page of the Daily Telegraph, and in
The Guardian, Times and Daily Mail. The comments were also reported on BBC news online, BBC
Radio 4, BBC Radio 2 and 3.
Kevin was interviewed in Hertfordshire on Channel 4 News, while Shaun was interviewed on the BBC
News channel and Sky News. Both were interviewed on LBC radio. CPRE President Emma
Bridgewater was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford about the garden village proposal at Eynsham.
Housing
Shaun Spiers was quoted extensively in The Sunday Telegraph (19 December) warning against any
measures to increase yet further high housing targets. In a piece illustrating the impact of raising
housing numbers in areas of high demand, some of which cover the constituencies of the cabinet,
Shaun argued that the Government should “think again and come up with a sensible, realistic way
of calculating housing which everyone can get behind”.
CPRE conducted research for The Times on the new homes bonus (13 December), illustrating how
much councils would receive while allocating Green Belt for development. Paul Miner said: “The
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government should fulfil its commitment to protecting the green belt and reform the new homes
bonus to encourage the re-use of urban brownfield land.”
Shaun Spiers, meanwhile, was quoted in a Sunday Times article illustrating that villages are being
lost due to increased development in the countryside due to high housing targets (18 December).
Green Belt
CPRE’s new report showing the huge potential of the Green Belt for public amenities and nature
conservation was covered by BBC News online (12 December). Planning campaign manager Paul
Miner was quoted: “Yesterday's car parks and sewage works can be tomorrow's wetland and
woodland.”
Rural post offices
CPRE commented on the Government’s consultation on the future of post offices in The Sunday
Telegraph (10 December). Director of campaigns and policy Tom Fyans described post offices as
“pillars of rural life”, and warned against any reduction in numbers or access. Tom’s comments
were picked up by The Times (11 December).
Blogs
Green Belt: One legacy we can be proud of, by Paul Miner was published as part of our launch of
Nature Conservation and Recreational Opportunities in the Green Belt on 12 December and Matt
Thomson wrote about High Weald AONB planning permission sets troubling precedent to draw
attention to our work on the threats to AONBs.
Shaun’s recent blogs include:
1,300 Lost Villages
Heathrow and the ‘just about managing’ places
Policy and campaigns
Devolution
As noted in a previous round-up, CPRE National Office is preparing to support branches during the
2017 mayoral election campaigns across England. We have already been in touch with those
branches directly affected by a mayoral election and have had a good response. Please get in touch
with James Bartholomeusz ([email protected]) if you would like some support with lobbying your
mayoral candidates.
Local food
We have now finalised our new local food guide leaflet and received delivery of a limited amount of
hard copies at National Office. We will be sending samples out to branches shortly and it is also
available to download via the website. Please feel free to put on any of the branch websites, and if
you have any questions/comments please do get in touch with digital communications editor Kat
Stansfield ([email protected]).
Neighbourhood planning
CPRE supported the creation of the Beauty in my Backyard (BIMBY) toolkit last year and The
Prince’s Foundation is keen to see it used by groups working on neighbourhood plans. BIMBY,
through nine simple exercises, gives communities an easy process that will bring the right group of
people together, create a solid evidence base that articulates the positive and negatives of their
areas, and work on the placement and characterisation of housing in their area.
If you’re involved with producing a neighbourhood plan or a group near you could do with input,
please direct people to www.bimby.org.uk for a simple way of structuring and reinvigorating the
process. If you are setting out on this process or are running a meeting on neighbourhood planning
the Prince’s Foundation may be able to provide a speaker; contact policy communications leader
Christopher Weatherburn at [email protected] if you’re interested.
Jane Seymour
3 January 2016
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020 7981 2861
[email protected]
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