On the 25th July 2011 the draft National Planning Policy Framework was published by Government. After the release of the Natural Environment White Paper in June this year conservation organisations have been highly anticipating the publication of the Framework, which represents the next step in terms of implementing the declarations of the White Paper.

The document, which integrates the Government’s economic, environmental and social planning policies for England, was issued alongside a statement from the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, who said “It will give local communities the power to protect green spaces that mean so much to them, while still giving the highest protection to our treasured landscapes such as national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It will also ensure that development needed to grow the economy is carried out in a sustainable way.”

The Government’s objective as stated in the Framework is that planning should help to deliver a healthy natural environment for the benefit of everyone and safe places which promote wellbeing. To achieve this objective, the document states that the planning system should aim to conserve and enhance the natural and local environment by protecting valued landscapes, minimise impacts on biodiversity and provide net gains where possible. The report also makes the statement that planning permission should be refused if significant harm resulting from a development cannot be avoided, adequately mitigated, or as a last resort, compensated for.

The Framework goes on to support the Lawton Review and the White Paper with its goals to minimise impacts on biodiversity by stating that planning policy should take into account the need to plan for biodiversity at a landscape-scale as well as identify and map components of the local ecological networks, including international, national and local sites. In line with EU targets the Framework states that planning will promote the preservation, restoration and re-creation of priority habitats, ecological networks and the recovery of priority species populations.

In terms of climate change the Government’s objective is that planning should fully support the transition to a low carbon economy in a changing climate, taking full account of flood risk and coastal change. To achieve this objective, the planning system should aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support energy efficiency improvements to existing buildings, deliver renewable and low-carbon energy infrastructure and provide resilience to impacts arising from climate change.

The Planning Framework is now open for consultation until the 17th of October 2011 and followed by a series of events taking place across the UK. Read the full document here.

The British Ecological Society’s Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group (SIG) is organising a meeting on 19th April 2011, exploring the implications of Prof. Sir John Lawton’s review of England’s protected areas (’Making Space for Nature‘). The meeting will consider the ecological challenges of the approach to nature conservation advocated by the Review (including more protected areas, which are ‘bigger, better and joined’), in the context of Defra’s Natural Environment White Paper, expected in the spring.

The meeting is an opportunity for ecologists, conservationists and policy-makers to get together at the BES’s headquarters, Charles Darwin House, to discuss the research and knowledge exchange required to ‘make space for nature’ in England, and the UK as a whole.

You can now book a place at the meeting, by downloading a booking form from the BES website and returning this by post to the meeting organiser. See the Conservation Ecology SIG page for further details.

Defra has today published the Lawton Review of England’s protected areas and ecological network. Professor Sir John Lawton, who led the review, is a past-President of the BES.

From the Defra press release:

An independent review of England’s wildlife sites and the connections between them was published today, with recommendations to help achieve a healthy natural environment that will allow our plants and animals to thrive.

Led by Professor Sir John Lawton, the review was set up to look at our wildlife sites and whether they are capable of responding and adapting to the growing challenges of climate change and other demands on our land.

Welcoming the report, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:

“I am extremely grateful to Professor Sir John Lawton and the other panel members for their hard work in carrying out this valuable review. Sir John Lawton is right to challenge us over what it takes to address the loss of biodiversity but he is also clear this cannot be done by Government alone. Everyone from farmers, wildlife groups, landowners and individuals can play a role in helping to create, manage and improve these areas, so if ever there was a time for the Big Society to protect our natural environment, this is it.

“We must work together to find innovative ways to protect and enhance our wildlife habitats – particularly as we respond to the growing threat of climate change. I will be calling for international action in Nagoya next month as we look to set new targets to tackle the decline in our natural environment, and we will follow this through with the first Natural Environment White Paper for 20 years in the UK.”

Launching the report, Professor Sir John Lawton said:

“There is compelling evidence that England’s collection of wildlife sites are generally too small and too isolated, leading to declines in many of England’s characteristic species. With climate change, the situation is likely to get worse. This is bad news for wildlife but also bad news for us, because the damage to nature also means our natural environment is less able to provide the many services upon which we depend. We need more space for nature. Our 24 recommendations in this report call for action which will benefit wildlife and people. They provide a repair manual to help re-build nature.”

The report makes the following key points for establishing a strong and connected natural environment:

That we better protect and manage our designated wildlife sites;
That we establish new Ecological Restoration Zones;
That we better protect our non-designated wildlife sites;
That Society’s need to maintain water-quality, manage inland flooding, deal with coastal erosion and enhance carbon storage, if thought about creatively, could help deliver a more effective ecological network.

We will not achieve a step-change in nature conservation in England without society accepting it to be necessary, desirable and achievable.

The report makes many recommendations and the Government response will be included in the Natural Environment White Paper to be published next year. Making Space for Nature will also help those that wish to contribute to the White Paper discussion document by the end of October to submit their ideas on what they want to see included.

The BES Policy Team will scrutinise the Review and would welcome comments on this from members. We are also preparing a response to the White Paper and would value members’ input.

A written parliamentary question tabled by Bob Russell MP to DCLG today received an answer from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Natural Environment and Fisheries in DEFRA, Richard Benyon MP.

Question: “To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to page 17 of The Coalition: Our Programme for Government, what plans he has to promote green spaces and wildlife corridors in order to halt the loss of habitat and restore biodiversity.” [348]

Answer: (Richard Benyon) “I have been asked to reply. We look forward to receiving Sir John Lawton’s report, “Making Space for Nature”, later in the summer. Sir John’s update in March reported that to achieve a coherent and resilient ecological network we will need to look beyond existing designated sites and take account of landscape designations, local wildlife sites and green spaces.

The Government are also looking forward to the completion of work currently being carried out by Natural England on the implementation of landscape-scale enhancements to benefit wildlife. This will build on and use the lessons learned from existing work such as the Great Fen, a collaboration between Natural England, Environment Agency, the local Wildlife Trust and district council, which is joining up two national nature reserves through creating 3,700 ha of wetland habitat in Cambridgeshire, which will deliver benefits not only for biodiversity but also for water quality, recreation and local communities.

In addition, this Government will deliver a White Paper, the first since 1990, that will, finally, take an integrated approach to the natural environment in all its aspects. By reflecting nature’s real value in our social and economic decisions we will be able to review and improve the ways in which we both harness and protect it. We are currently considering options and time scales for taking this commitment forward.”

This reaffirms DEFRA’s commitment to publishing a White Paper on the natural environment, as suggested by the Prime Minister before reaching government.