Bat Conservation Trust has joined 25 other NGOs in the Better Planning Coalition led by CPRE to call on the government to seize a once in a generation opportunity to upgrade the planning system as part of its levelling up agenda in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. The call to modernise planning laws and policies so that they can tackle the multiple challenges of the 21st century comes from a coalition of charities, organisations and business groups working across the climate, nature, built environment, heritage and transport sectors, with one goal in mind – a planning system fit for climate, nature and people.
Local democracy, social housing, access to green space, active travel and tackling the climate and nature emergencies need to be prioritised, with holistic solutions that deliver beautiful places to live. The broad range of organisations, including Shelter, Friends of the Earth, CPRE the countryside charity, National Trust, RSPB and the Ramblers, has formed the Better Planning Coalition to campaign for the biggest upgrade to planning rules for at least a generation. The prevailing narrow focus on housebuilding targets, regardless of sustainability or affordability, must be rejected. Instead, the priority must be to develop thriving, sustainable communities that are in harmony with nature and the historic environment.
Bat Conservation Trust is joined by other members of the coalition, which includes representation from the construction and property industries and has a combined public membership of over 8.2 million people, range from Wildlife and Countryside Link to the Open Spaces Society, Cycling UK, Sustrans and the UK Green Building Council. We are united by the belief that the planning system needs to be repurposed, with a fresh mission to deliver carbon neutral, nature friendly, well designed and affordable places to live, while protecting areas most important for nature and our heritage. People, not profits, need to be at the heart of new developments.
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Posted On: 12/05/2022