Joint memorandum submitted by English
Nature, Rural Development Service and the Countryside Agency (Landscape
Access Recreation)
NATURAL ENGLAND
1. A new organisation—Natural England—is
being created with responsibility to conserve and enhance the
value and beauty of England's natural environment and promote
access, recreation and public well-being for the benefit of today's
and future generations.
2. The creation of the new organisation,
Natural England, has already begun, with English Nature,
the Landscape, Access and Recreation division of the Countryside
Agency, and the Rural Development Service working together as
partners. This natural partnership is delivering joint outcomes
and paving the way for Natural England, whilst continuing
to deliver their separate and respective statutory duties:
— English Nature is the independent
Government agency that champions the conservation of wildlife
and geology throughout England.
— The Rural Development Service
is the largest deliverer of the England Rural Development Programme
and a range of advisory and regulatory rural services.
— The aim of the Countryside Agency's
Landscape, Access and Recreation division is to help everyone
respect, protect and enjoy the countryside.
3. This evidence has been produced jointly
by English Nature, the Rural Development Service and the Countryside
Agency's Landscape, Access and Recreation division who are working
to create Natural England, a new agency for people, places
and nature.
4. We welcome the Committee's decision to
return to the important issue of sustainable housing and to assess
what progress has been made since the Committee's report into
this issue was published.
5. English Nature and the Countryside Agency
both submitted evidence to the Committee's inquiry into sustainable
housing. We would reiterate our previous evidence, the main points
of which can be summarised as follows:
— The UK Sustainable Development strategy
should underpin a sustainable housing policy, with the planning
system ensuring that the objectives of sustainable development
are met in an integrated way.
— Housing needs and increased housing
affordability must be met in ways that enhance the environment
and improve quality of life. Our concerns about significant additional
housing are largely related to where and how development takes
place.
— The environmental implications of
new development must be fully and properly addressed. This must
include proper protection for our designated landscapes, sites
and species as well as recognition of environmental capacity.
Future development must recognise the limits for using natural
resources and prevent irreversible losses of biodiversity.
— We must create locally distinctive
and high quality environments that local people will be proud
of. Local communities should be actively involved in planning
for the future of their communities and should receive direct
and substantial benefits from development in their areas. All
development should deliver a net gain (or at least a neutral effect)
for the social, economic and environmental interests of the area,
with no significant losses to any of them.
— Much greater emphasis should be placed
on the quality of new development. The planning system should
set out the standards that development should meet. Exemplar sustainable
communities should be created in the growth areas, with the lessons
learnt applied to development elsewhere. A range of tools and
techniques can help deliver high quality development.
— New housing must show major resource
productivity improvements in water, energy and materials use.
Revisions to the Building Regulations, the introduction of the
Code for Sustainable Buildings and the widespread adoption of
environmental standards such as "ecohomes" will help
improve the environmental performance of new housing.
— Infrastructure, including "green
infrastructure" should be provided as an integral part of
new development with investment decisions supporting spatial strategies
and the planning system ensuring the joining up of service providers.
If introduced, a planning-gain supplement, planning tariffs or
further reforms to the system of planning obligations should be
used to deliver significant local community and environmental
benefits.
6. We have no evidence to offer that significant
progress has been made on any of these matters since the publication
of the Committee's previous report.
November 2005
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