Most of the counties in the UK are encountering a decline in wild life, too many 'side gardens' properties been built, too many front gardens reduced to private cars park, too many hedges replaced by fences, have I missed anything?
An idea: what about giving an official 'thank you' note to county councils who are promoting sustainable housings, by sustainable I mean 'life promotion for present and future', who are creating wild areas without destroying existing ones?
They all say: 'we do not want our neighbour side garden to be built because of the view, they all say we are selfish because of this remark' you bet we are, like many people I much prefer hearing in the morning birds singing than the grinding of trees replaced by concrete blocks, I much prefer studying the individual personalities of the wild life than 'how well' a brick wall has been laid.... Don't you?
Patricia, I totally agree with you but unfortunately the Govt lay down planning guidelines on sustainable development and I suspect building in side gardens would be regarded as totally sustainable when compared with building on green field sites. That is unfortunately why 'development creep' happens before most of us actually realise.
The Cotswold Water park sightings website
My Flicker page
Ok, can you then, please, describe 'sustainable'.
Properties development is a tool for councils to make money as people requesting permission not only pay the request but also more than £10000 each time, so 'called' contribution, but when you look into the council finance you cannot find where those contribution have been allocated, it is unprecised....
Recently I have asked to a politician why they are not using all those empty stores, for example to rent to people with low income, he replied that they were not 'up to standard' to be rented, but then can revamp them, we all know this.
So the end work is or one agree with what they are doing and stop moaning about wild life dying or one harmers them with questions until they listen!
P, In planning sustainable development has a specific description
1. an economic role – contributing to building a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth and innovation; and by identifying and coordinating development requirements, including the provision of infrastructure;
2 a social role – supporting strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by providing the supply of housing required to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by creating a high quality built environment, with accessible local services that reflect the community’s needs and support its health, social and cultural well-being
3 an environmental role – contributing to protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment; and, as part of this, helping to improve biodiversity, use natural resources prudently, minimise waste and pollution, and mitigate and adapt to climate change including moving to a low carbon economy.
That is a Govt description. Councils have to fit into this. A lot of organisations are concerned about this. It does mean that if councils do what you suggest, rather than a pat on the back they will get the planning inspectorate telling them to get on with it.
Hi Patricia,
You've touched on the tip of an absolutely massive iceberg of issues around giving urban nature a home. As a planner working for the RSPB here are a few thoughts of my own (but not necessarily answers!)
Quite often, the kind of changes you're referring to don't need any permission from the local planning authority. You, me and just about everybody who owns property enjoy what are called permitted development rights, which allow us to do certain things to our properties free of regulation. This can include changes to surfaces, removing (urban) hedges, changing details on our buildings that might well then exclude swifts from nesting, and so on.
But all is not lost. The RSPB is developing increasingly strong partnerships with several major organisations in the development sector who collectively are responsible for building (and renovating, maintaining and managing) thousands of new and existing homes across the UK both in the free market and social housing sectors, not to mention maintaining a wide range of urban green spaces. We’ve got a long way to go before we’re able to help influence enough of the built environment to make a real difference to urban nature, but it’s worth remembering that the plight of some of our most familiar urban neighbours like house sparrows has only quite recently been recognised and it takes time to figure out what the problem really is. Very new research on invertebrate populations in different grassland types that could be grown in your average park or garden is beginning to suggest helpful actions that individuals and organisations could take, but we need to be sure we’re advising people to take the right sort of action before leaping in.
We do recognise and reward good examples wherever we find them though a variety of means, including articles in trade journals and our own “Conservation Planner” newsletter that goes to thousands of development and planning sector professionals all over the country. And from time to time we publish case studies of good practice, such as for example in the recent guide for local authorities and planners on sustainable urban drainage systems or “SUDS”. Here’s a link if you are interested: www.rspb.org.uk/.../SuDS_report_final_tcm9-338064.pdf
But the biggest challenge of all with urban nature is simply the number of landowners involved – there’s you, me, and probably about 20 or 30 million others to influence. We need lots of local supporters willing to take the sort of generic advice we make available on our website, and apply it locally – to your own gardens, in chatting to your neighbours over the garden fence, and realistically, whenever a planning application is lodged and the council ask for comments.
Regards,
Colin