Development and nature can go hand in hand, according to a new report published by an alliance of conservationists and planning experts.
'Planning Naturally - Spatial planning with nature in mind: in the UK and beyond' has been produced by the RSPB, the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Chartered Institute of Ecology And Environmental Management and was launched yesterday at the RTPI Planning Convention. You can download it here.
The document aims to show how nature is integral to every part of the planning process. Using 12 principles of good spatial planning backed by examples from across the UK and further afield it lays out how we can achieve growth in housing, infrastructure and industry without damaging special places for wildlife and people.
Some of the report’s case studies have previously featured on this blog. They include ambitious plans for the protection of 10,000 square km of central Scotland, the largest wetland creation project in Europe at Wallasea Island in Essex and a wide variety of plans published in recent years by local authorities around the UK.
Further afield examples of inspiring planning include a specialist environmental court in Vermont, USA which oversees matters of environmental justice, and plans to safeguard one of Kenya’s most important wildlife sites, the Tana River Delta, also home to thousands of indigenous tribes people with high levels of poverty.
The recent State of Nature report published by 25 leading wildlife groups showed that 60 per cent of our native species are in decline. Urbanisation and loss of habitat is a significant factor in the decline of wildlife. But the planning sector has moved a long way in recent years and we now have many positive examples of plans and projects which have been designed with nature in mind.
What we have tried to do in Planning Naturally is bring together this experience in order to inspire local authority planners, consultants, developers and ecologists and show them what can be done.
Limited paper copies are also available on request to planningpolicy@rspb.org.uk.
Follow me on Twitter @RSPBplanner