Parish councils spurred on to create Neighbourhood Plans
Written by Jessica Mayall
19 November 2012
CPRE Sussex joined forces with CPRE national office and the National Association of Local Councils NALC to provide a planning workshop for Sussex Parish councillors to assist them in making Neighbourhood Plans. The event at Pulborough on 1st November was attended by parish councillors from Birdham, Henfield, Herstmonceux, Hunston, Patching, Petworth, Pulborough, Southbourne, Westhampnett and Woolbeding with Redford.
"Local decisions are being taken away": CPRE Sussex on BBC
Written by William Shaw
15 November 2012
"We're concerned that if decisions are taken away from the local level then developers’ interests come first," said CPRE Sussex Director Georgia Wrighton on the BBC's Sunday Politics South East, commenting on the Government's Growth and Infrastructure Bill which back tracks on commitments to localism.
3 November 2012
Countryside campaigners, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), believe the priority for a new roads programme will devastate our precious countryside. New roads, including Sussex's controversial Bexhill-Hastings Link Road, are being promoted on the ill-considered leap of faith that road building can deliver economic growth and regeneration.
CPRE president Sir Andrew Motion said:
“New roads will ruin our precious landscape and produce even more misery-making bottlenecks and tailbacks. Other solutions are infinitely preferable - solutions that do not compromise unique and beautiful countryside.”
Public Consultation on Horsham District Council’s (HDC’s)Horsham District Planning Framework – ‘Preferred Strategy’, has been postponed until the New Year.
Gatwick U-turn threatens Sussex
17 October 2012
Gatwick has thrown its name into hat as part of the push to increase London's airport capacity. With Heathrow ruled out and plans for a third airport in the Thames Estuary proving controversial, Gatwick has declared that it is to immediately start drawing up detailed plans for a second runaway.
Bexhill - Hastings link protest: major turnout
Written by William Shaw
17 October 2012
CPRE members were amongst a large crowd vociferously protesting at a Sussex County Council meeting in Lewes yesterday about the planned £93.8m link road between Bexhill and Hastings.
CPRE Sussex Trustee Chris Lewis considers the facts behind the arguments around the need for new housing in our district.
Statistics and forecasts of the numbers of people and of households in Sussex have changed substantially during 2012. This is a consequence of the way such figures are produced. It means that all concerned with future planning of housing needs, including local authorities and CPRE Sussex need to keep their eyes open and redo all their calculations.
Wealden District Core Strategy
The Examination in Public of the WDC core strategy has been completed, and we were generally pleased with the WDC approach. The Inspector has presented his interim findings which unfortunately bring forward the end date from 2030 to 2027, thus increasing the annual build rate, but we are pleased to see that he has (almost) ruled out building on AONB sites at Heathfield, a position that we adopted. It was interesting watching the antics of the developers and their expensive representatives who repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, pushed for the inclusion of their sites in the strategy, including (as expected) yet another push for Honey Farm, we assume that we now have a breathing space till 2027 before they start again.
The routine planning applications continue, with few sites where we feel any need to comment, if local members think that any proposal needs our comments please contact me.
Since 1 April all planning in the southern part of Wealden South is the responsibility of SDNPA and we hope that their website will function fully in the near future.
’Glamping’
CPRE is always keen to encourage appreciative, informed and sympathetic use of and access to the countryside. With this in mind I raised the issue of "glamping" (that is glamorous camping for the uninitiated) in May's High Weald Network meeting at Blackboys and this was discussed at length (particularly with regard to glamping in woodland) at September's meeting at Flimwell with the directors of the High Weald AONB Unit, representatives from The Ramblers and our former director Stuart Meier who chairs the High Weald Network meetings.
It is clear that in the High Weald AONB - which has a high proportion of its land designated as ancient woodland - there are many instances of woodland (ancient and secondary) being used for "glamping". Such use ranges from official sites with planning permission - through to mobile shepherd huts or lodges or just a few yurts or teepees that are truly temporary in nature and come and go with the seasons. The "season" though can well be from Easter to a warm October as much as 8 months of the year.
While glamping may prove to be be a fad, nevertheless it can damage woodland (ancient and secondary) from trampling of ground flora, to disturbance of woodland fauna (macro and micro) and even destruction of precious ancient woodland habitats. The view of the meeting was that glamping in ancient woodland should not generally be allowed and that careful consideration should also be given to requests to allow camping in woodlands of any kind. A key factor to bear in mind is the density of the glamping units and the size of the ancient (or other) woodland as well as more obvious planning points such as protecting the environment, infrastructure; waste disposal; access; sanitary needs etc.
It was also felt that since camping in woodland can easily be hidden from the public gaze, there may be a perception that the landscape is unaffected by such use - when this could result in a pernicious degradation of the landscape as a living, sustainable, biodiverse and - although such a word is subjective - beautiful entity.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article - we are keen to promote the enjoyment of the countryside in all its aspects but glamping and related activity is a current trend of which we should all be aware. Of course appropriate camping has been carried out for many decades in woodland - as with the Scouts and Guides - but the current trend towards luxury and semi-permanent structures can easily place more strain on the countryside - and on woodland in particular.
Report: Gary Marshall
Any relevant information regarding this can be passed on to Gary Marshall, through our Blackboys office at Tel: 01825 890975 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
