still plenty that is wrong
National
The wretched GDPR
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A Cautionary Tale ~ in a field far, far away…
A developer wanted to build 250 homes at Moredon Bridge (on the extreme south-eastern edge of the parish. Wiltshire Council refused. It went to appeal and 200 were allowed with the express exclusion of a small area which was a protected site ~ a County Wildlife Site, called Bradley’s Meadow....
Biodiversity Offsetting ~ is all about trust
Some while ago in the parish of Purton (in Wiltshire) a planning application was received by the planning authority for 200 new homes. At the time, the contiguous parishes and relevant planning authorities felt that the site in question was not the appropriate place for housing and was not supported in the most recent draft housing strategies. The relevant planning authority refused the application and, as is usually the case when significant profits are at risk, the developer went to appeal. This means that a government-approved planning inspector would sit (a bit like a judge) and hear competing evidence and then make a decision. The decision that the planning inspector made was to approve most of the site for development but expressly said that Bradley’s Meadow should be left alone as it was a site having Nature Conservation Importance. The developer went away, built the houses, and then returned to say that the Inspector was wrong and that Bradley’s Meadow was not particularly interesting and should be built upon...
Neighbourhood Plan ~ conflict?
You could be forgiven that the draft Deregulation Bill (the one that is about removing so-called red tape for businesses) has little significance for neighbourhood planning. Not so. Tucked away in a little corner (page 31 para 187) is a “repeal of duty to prepare sustainable community strategy“. In essence, this is about modifying the Local Government Act 2000 to delete section 4 so that local authorities (such as Wiltshire Council) are no longer required to prepare sustainable community strategies. This makes no sense, on the one hand
Changing subscription method
I hope this will not be too inconvenient but the RSS subscription method has been a bit hit and miss lately and so the RSS will be discontinued in a day or two. Please could I ask you to re-subscribe via the Email Subscription. Please go to www.CarbonBrake.com and on the right-hand side, just below the picture banner you will see the Email Subscription. Apologies for any temporary inconvenience but this should lead to a far more reliable service. Thanks
Big Society ~ securing the future
The premise of the “Big Society” programme is to re-distribute “power” from a centralised, Big Government hub (Westminster) to “the people”. The intention is to deliver “government and its services” at a more local level. This paper will explore various dimensions to illustrate the opportunities for sustainable development and the risks if the shift of “power” is superficial. To do this, the paper will look briefly at the really big issues (climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone, biogeochemical nitrogen and phosphorus cycle, global freshwater use, land system change, biodiversity loss, […]