How to think about the Green Belt - my new blog.

1. Some facts. It's a planning designation applying to 12.6% of land in England. Its main purpose is to stop urban sprawl & focus development within towns & cities. It doesn't *have* to be beautiful.
bit.ly/3oqrMuM 1/ 2. @Keir_Starmer wants to make it easier to develop the Green Belt, but there is already a process for redrawing its boundaries in "exceptional circumstances". Development is allowed, without redrawing boundaries, in "very special circumstances". And there's a lot of it. 2/

The food vs. environment frame is deeply flawed. At present, the UK grows food for biofuels, for export & to feed livestock (according to @wwf_uk research, growing cereal crops to feed animals uses 40% of the UK’s arable land area & consumes half of our annual wheat harvest). 1/

https://twitter.com/timfarron/status/1620797013918089216

Not all food production is equal. As for upland farmers, of course they deserve support, not the status quo. We need a transition that can benefit farmers *and* nature. It will also enhance food security in the long term. 2/

As the former head of @CPRE, I know better than most that wind farms arouse strong emotions, particularly among rural communities and in some Conservative MPs. But I think @RishiSunak is wrong to rule them out - a short thread. 1/ Some years ago, @CPRE painstakingly developed a position on onshore wind with its branches & policy committee. It recognised the importance of renewable energy in tackling climate change, but also the need for community consent & the importance of landscape impacts. 2/

Oh dear, battles over wind farms, again. These arguments dominated my time as chief executive of @CPRE from 2004 until onshore wind was effectively banned by Eric Pickles before the 2015 election.
bit.ly/3JaH3nN 1/ The ban wasn't about planning, it was anti-planning. We need to move on & find ways to get local democratic consent for renewable energy, wind & solar. There's plenty of evidence that this can be done. 2/

Superb @IndyVoices piece by @GreenAllianceUK's @dustin_benton. There are big calls to dig for victory & ditch the government's farming reforms in light of the war in Ukraine. But the panic over food security is misplaced for three reasons. bit.ly/3K7VLgO 1/ First, even with the impact of the war, the world easily has enough food to feed everyone. The problem isn't food, it's the ability to pay for it. Let's restore overseas aid, rather than maximising our own production. 2/

I'm hearing rumours that some in the government want to kick start the economy by liberalising (ie weakening) the #planning system. A reminder: this has been tried umpteen times before and it doesn't work. 1/ 1. Good planning aids development by providing certainty for developers.
2. It creates better places. Well planned areas (good design, space for nature etc.) create more wealth than poorly planned places. 2/

The environment bill, published this afternoon, is the culmination of a huge amount of work by people across the @GreenerUK_ coalition, and officials & ministers in @DefraGovUK - thanks to all of them. A few initial thoughts...
bit.ly/2MHSB6T 1/ The proposed framework for legally binding targets covering nature, air, water & waste has the potential to be truly world-leading. Thanks to the businesses who argued that clear, binding targets are good for business, not a drag on growth. @AldersgateGrp @UKGBC 2/

I've been in meetings all day & am struggling to catch up on the govt's proposal to the EU. But it looks pretty grim for the environment. Getting rid of the backstop means getting rid of the environmental protections in the Withdrawal Agreement.
bit.ly/2n0Sfj1 1/ The backstop provisions of the Nov 2018 Withdrawal Agreement set out to guarantee environmental protections & access to environmental justice. It covered air quality, biodiversity, waste, chemicals, climate change etc.
bit.ly/2nSDVtf 2/