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Wednesday is the first anniversary of the National Planning Policy Framework, or NPPF. The draft was subject of much controversy, and even though the final version was much improved, it’s clearly open season for debate about its impact, especially about the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable...

This post is based on an article I wrote for Conservation Planner, our twice-yearly newsletter for planners interested in nature conservation. You can see the new edition on-line here , but if you want to receive a regular paper copy, please contact us. I've updated the piece here in places where...

Planners often get a bad press, but the current BBC2 series The Planners paints them in a sympathetic light. As a former local government planner myself, I know what it’s like to deal with objecting neighbours, applicants who won’t negotiate, and council members who make strange decisions...

From Romania to Romford and from Portugal to Perth, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive is a crucial tool in the protection of Europe’s environment. Since I last blogged on the proposals to review the directive in December (see here ), we’ve been cracking on with understanding...

Readers of this blog may recall that last year I was part of a small group of planning practitioners that drafted a version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The Government’s draft version of the NPPF proved extremely controversial, although I’m glad to say the eventual outcome...

Five thousand homes at Lodge Hill, Kent. Able Marine Energy Park, the Humber. Hunterston power station, Ayrshire. M4 relief road, Newport. All schemes the RSPB has opposed or is opposing. All special places protected by environmental legislation, not only because these are officially protected areas...

Yesterday I heard Nick Boles give his first speech as planning minister at the Town and Country Planning Association’s annual conference, Where will the people live? He was fresh from his appearance on BBC Newsnight where he was grilled by Jeremy Paxman and a feisty lady from my old stomping...

Planning minister Nick Boles claims that buildings can be more beautiful than nature. The RSPB believes we shouldn't have to choose. Well-designed homes close to nature: that's the RSPB's vision for the homes the country needs. We agree that we need many more homes than we are currently building...

The future of England’s Green Belts has been in the news again. Our colleagues over at the Campaign to Protect Rural England have published a map of Green Belts under threat. Housing minister Grant Shapps has re-iterated the Government’s commitment to protect the Green Belt. Green Belt...

So, ministers have been ordered to “think the unthinkable” in efforts to stimulate the economy back to life and pull Britain out of its double-dip recession. That is, according to the Daily Telegraph . I come back from holiday and apparently further planning reform is back on the agenda...

Since the hoo-ha over the Government’s new planning policy, there seems to be a new level of interest in how the planning system can deliver for nature. Now that Government has put in place much of the national framework, to general applause, the spotlight turns to England’s 354 local...

As a postscript to my last post on the National Planning Policy Framework (can you have a post postscript?), I see that MPs held a debate on it this week. Planning minister Greg Clark introduced the debate by citing a lot of things that the NPPF does. He said, ‘The NPPF makes it crystal clear...

I have now read the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) line-by-line, comparing it with last year’s draft. I am impressed, and still happy, as Martin Harper reported in his blog yesterday . Why am I so happy? Martin mentioned our top three red lines . The Government has listened...

The wait is over. Just under nine months after the Government published its draft new planning policy for England – the National Planning Policy Framework, or NPPF – the final version has been delivered. Here’s what we said in our press release: The Government has listened to public...

We now know for sure that England’s National Planning Policy Framework will be published next Tuesday. But nothing yet is certain about its content. We suspect that there has been much wrangling between Government departments behind the scenes, including over the definition of sustainable development...

Here at the RSPB and at other environment charities we’re waiting with bated breath for the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework (the NPPF). The Government has committed to publishing it by the end of March, and we suspect it may come out sooner, possibly even before the Budget...

I’ve written previously about the threat that planning reform poses to the natural environment, and particularly the draft National Planning Policy Framework . The rationale for planning reform is often posed in terms of the way the planning system is supposed to hold back economic growth. But...

The landscape is changing. I don’t mean the landscape you can physically see from your window, but the way in which we plan for that landscape, its people, places and wildlife. Where I live in Cambridgeshire, there used to be a strategic plan for the county, and then a more detailed, local plan...

It’s been a difficult year for environmental planners in England. In the summer we had the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the subject of an intense public furore. Autumn gave us the Chancellor’s statement moaning about the burdens imposed by environmental protection and...

That may sound like Yoda's re-interpretation of a well-known sustainability slogan, but in fact it refers to a Parliamentary bill which today became the Localism Act 2011. The RSPB has been a leading member of the Greenest Planning Ever coalition which has been campaigning on what was the Localism...

On Monday, after what felt like a never-ending process of drafting and honing, we submitted our response to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s consultation on the controversial draft National Planning Policy Framework. Our response was formed of three parts. The first was...

It’s always exciting when the political tectonic plates start to shift as a result of effective campaigning. The unified raspberry that has greeted the draft of the EnPeePeeEff (National Planning Policy Framework) across England (the rest of the UK can relax for now) has at last brought the Prime...

In the wake of the Sunday Times article (11 September), which splashed the advisory group for the National Planning Policy Framework all over the front page and inside too, today’s Daily Telegraph contains an opinion piece by me which explains the RSPB’s position and some of the problems...

So, the Sunday Times has established what has been widely known for weeks, that the Government's planning policy was strongly influenced by an earlier draft prepared by a group of practitioners, of whom I was one. Actually, this was covered in a piece by the Guardian on 26 July. This will come as...

Since I blogged earlier this week, the National Planning Policy Framework has hit the headlines in quite a big way. The National Trust campaign has created quite a stir (“National Trust warns planning changes could tear up countryside” in the Guardian ), with a “bewildered” reaction...