Planning regulations need a green angle

In last week’s Express there was an article about local councillors who have expressed concerns about the largest changes to the planning system since

1947 “Councillors sign letter attacking Government planning reforms”.

The Government has yet again missed an opportunity to save our planet, our lifesupport system, and also install a new green paradigm which would have also boosted our economy, created jobs, and improved well-being in the most holistic sense.

As Boris Johnson indicated in his foreword to the proposals, it has been more than 80 years since the planning system was fundamentally re-written.

Such legislation may not be completely rewritten for many decades to come, yet we face challenges greater than ever faced by mankind before which require agile and expert changes to be facilitated by this ponderous planning beast.

Once again, our Government has failed to place at the heart of legislation the requirement to significantly tackle climate change, to build in resilience to the extreme weather expected in the UK, and to reverse mass extinctions of UK species.

The ‘use of land’ needs to be managed to provide truly extensive areas for carbon sequestration and biodiversity restoration, swapping out pastoral farming for arable farming (indicating a move towards plantbased diets), and the creation of more, expansive and managed green belt areas.

The location of constructions need to be limited to brownfield sites only and building processes must be carbon negative.

Key permissible parameters of developments should include protecting residents from the extreme weather expected in the decades to come, facilitating carbon negative living, and tie into a national Biodiversity Action Plan, which should include the greening of urban areas and developments.

Planning regulations need to be re-written now to view all developments through the lens of existential climate change and biodiversity extinction. Only then can we release developers to retrofit and build freely; the right buildings; in the right way; in the right place; to benefit present and future generations.

CLLR WISDOM DA COSTA West Windsor Residents Association,

Clewer and Dedworth West