It’s a surprising fact that England is the only country in the UK that doesn’t have any kind of strategic, spatial plan. In fact, it seems to be one of the few countries in the world not to have one. OK, we’ve got plans that cover England that do things for different sectors, like national policy statements for energy infrastructure or ports (in England and Wales). There’s even a National Infrastructure Plan (for the UK), and an England Biodiversity Strategy. There are probably lots of other different types of plan for England if I looked hard enough.
But there’s definitely no integrated, strategic, spatial (i.e. with maps) plan for the use and development of land in England. Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and umpteen other places do it, so why can’t we?
Just before Christmas, the Government announced that it would produce a ‘simple national planning policy framework setting out their priorities for the planning system in England in a single, concise document covering all major forms of development proposals handled by local authorities’.
The Government has asked organisations and individuals to offer their suggestions on what priorities and policies might be adopted to produce a ‘shorter, more decentralised and less bureaucratic national planning policy framework.’
Well, that’s maybe not quite what we had in mind, but it’s a start.
In a couple of weeks we’ll be publishing our own report on what a Natural Planning Framework for England should look like.
The deadline to make proposals to the Department of Communities and Local Government is 28 February 2011.