Regional Spatial Strategy
Nottinghamshire Branch made an important contribution over the past year to the CPRE East Midlands Regional Group response to the draft review of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). Involvement with the RSS is vital for CPRE because once approved, the planning policies it contains provide the strategic context for all the local plans and development documents to be prepared by local planning authorities. These include housing figures for each District, and will thus determine the scale and pace of new development in Nottinghamshire over the next 20 years.
Based on the quality and relevance of its representations, CPRE was invited to contribute to almost all the sessions at the Examination in Public into the RSS. This was Chaired by Professor Stephen Crow and held in Leicester from May 22nd to July 19th. The report of the Panel on the EIP and their recommendations to Government for changes to the RSS is expected towards the end of October.
Housing numbers dominated much of the debate. Estimates of future development needs are significantly higher than when the previous regional plan was prepared. This is partly because of the national trend for people to live in smaller, separate households, and partly because net inward migration to the East Midlands from other regions is projected to continue. During the EIP Government also announced a new national target for house building of 240,000 a year, which it argued is necessary to address “affordability”.
CPRE expressed its concern that Government is in danger of neglecting the primary purpose of the planning system, to deliver sustainable development, in favour of a single issue – increasing house-building. We were particularly critical that proposals for “New Growth Points”, which reward Local Planning Authorities who release more land for housing with extra Government money for infrastructure, were announced outside the RSS process. Thus, proposals for Newark and Nottingham were agreed in principle before the EIP had begun, and the figures would also allow for additional growth in Mansfield and Ashfield.
Representation at the EIP was shared between officers and volunteers. Lisa Hopkinson, who was appointed as a Regional Policy Officer in March, co-ordinated the joint effort. It included contributions from Bettina Lange, our other RPO, and Peter Winstanley, Lisa’s predecessor. Tony Kemmer, the Regional Chairman, appeared, and Carol Collins and Valerie and John Gillespie provided local expertise during the sessions that dealt with Nottinghamshire. Members of CPRE also appeared representing Parish Councils, notably Paul Kaczmarczuk, to argue against the proposed urban extension of Nottingham into the Green Belt south of Clifton.
The latter was the single most contentious proposal in the RSS. CPRE and others argued that it was too detailed, and that other alternatives had not been adequately considered. At a time when urban regeneration is proving successful in Nottingham, with 1000 dwellings a year built over the past five years, the premature release of Green Belt land could be harmful to both the renaissance of the City and the character of the surrounding countryside. CPRE is not opposed to building more housing in itself, but we do believe that it has to be part of a wider, sustainable approach to new development. We are concerned that the pace of growth could add to commuting and traffic problems if housing is not matched by jobs. Similarly, if the rate of housing development is too rapid it could increase flood risk and threaten the character of much loved local landscapes.
We are not convinced that sufficient work has been done at the local level to assess the capacity of areas to absorb new development. We believe it will be necessary for Local Councils to work with each other and agree joint solutions, and we hope to be able to participate in that process. We therefore hope that the Panel will recognise the need for more joint working before housing figures for individual Districts are finalised.
During the course of the EIP, Government announced that in future the RSS and the Regional Economic Strategy will be combined and that the Regional Development Agency (EMDA) rather than the Regional Assembly, will be responsible for its production. This proposal raises a number of concerns which CPRE will be pursuing both nationally and regionally. These include how to maintain democratic accountability in the preparation of the Plan and the need to ensure that environmental and social issues are given equal weight to economic concerns.
Peter Winstanley
