Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that agricultural land on Green Belts is being preserved for agricultural purposes.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Farming efficiently and improving the environment will be rewarded through our future farming policy. The Government recognises the need to protect the natural assets which are essential to the production of food in this country.
We regularly assess the effectiveness of environmental protections and work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that planning supports agriculture and food production as well as protecting and enhancing the environment. This is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework requires local planning authorities to take into account all the benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, planning authorities should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality.
We are committed to protecting and enhancing the Green Belt, as set out in our manifesto, which is created by local authorities to prevent urban sprawl and the merging of settlements. Green Belt policy in the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that open land is an essential characteristic of Green Belt, and that most new buildings in a Green Belt are inappropriate and should be refused planning permission unless justified by very special circumstances.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposals in the Planning for the Future consultation, published 6 August 2020, on the (a) maintenance of green spaces and (b) conservation of biodiversity in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
In Planning for the Future we have proposed significant changes to the focus and the processes of planning – to secure better outcomes in terms of land for homes, beauty and environmental quality. One key proposal is that future local plans would put all land into one of three categories: areas for growth, for renewal or for protection. That proposal makes clear that, under such a system, local authorities would use the plan-making process to earmark valued green space, which need not be a designated area such as Local Green Space or Green Belt, for protection.
It is not feasible to try to predict how a particular local authority would apply the proposed rules, the detail of which will depend on the response to our current consultation. However, I can be clear that, in its plan-making and decisions, a local authority will still be expected to promote the provision and retention of green space and other green infrastructure, and to protect and enhance biodiversity in line with natural environment policies in the National Planning Policy Framework. Moreover, the Environment Bill gives local authorities a new power to require developers to provide net gains for biodiversity as a mandatory condition of planning permission.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposals in the Planning for the future consultation, published 6 August 2020 on the (a) maintenance of green spaces in Wirral and (b) conservation of biodiversity in Wirral.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Planning for the Future proposes significant changes to the focus and processes of planning – to secure better outcomes in terms of land for homes, beauty and environmental quality. One key proposal is that local plans place all land into one of three categories: areas for Growth, Renewal or Protection. The consultation proposal is clear that valued green space and Green Belt would be included in areas for Protection.
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that planning policies and decisions should not only protect and enhance the natural environment, but should secure net gains for biodiversity, including wildlife habitat and ecological networks. The reforms we are proposing are designed to support the continuing implementation of this policy by local authorities, in line with our 25 Year Environment Plan and provisions in the Environment Bill.
We also propose to transform how communities engage with plan-making, using new digital tools to make it easier for many more people to understand, engage with and influence development policies and proposals.
After carefully considering all the responses to Planning for the Future, the Government will publish its conclusions.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the UK is a global leader in policy advocacy for the conservation of nature.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to ensuring that the UK leads the world to promote a green, fair and resilient global recovery from the impacts of Covid-19 and central to that is the importance of resetting the global relationship with nature.
We will support the adoption of ambitious and practical targets on nature at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Summit (COP15) in China next May, strengthened by coherent implementation mechanisms that will deliver a new global biodiversity framework that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge. Nature is also a top priority for our upcoming Presidency of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (COP26) next year and we are pushing for tangible and ambitious commitments from partner governments to champion nature and nature-based solutions. Given this, and the multi-faceted benefits of nature-based solutions, we are working with the Chinese Government, who are hosting COP15, to press for mutually reinforcing outcomes at the two Conferences. In addition, we will continue leading global ambition on conserving endangered species, following our hosting of the international Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018.
On marine biodiversity, we are driving forward efforts to protect and enhance the ocean and eliminate harmful fisheries practice as we have done domestically and in 2018 we launched the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance with Vanuatu, which now convenes 34 Commonwealth countries to tackle plastic pollution. We have also committed to a new, £500 million Blue Planet Fund, and are building on the ‘30by30’ campaign which the UK launched at the UN General Assembly in 2018, leading the Global Ocean Alliance calling to protect 30% of the world’s global ocean by 2030. This ambitious target is underpinned by domestic commitments through the Blue Belt Programme, which is on course to deliver over 4 million square kilometres of protected ocean around the British Overseas Territories by the end of 2020.
Our international leadership on nature must be underpinned by credible action at home. In England, our 25 Year Environment Plan marked a step change in ambition for nature and the natural environment. We are taking action to fulfil this ambition by introducing bold new legislation and new funding to support nature’s recovery.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made in implementing the 25-Year Environment Plan.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The 25 Year Environment Plan sets out the Government’s aim to improve the environment within a generation.
Since the plan was published, the Government has taken decisive action to tackle some of the biggest environmental problems of our age, including:
We will report annually to Parliament on the 25 Year Environment Plan, ensuring we are transparent about our progress and achievements and that we can be held to account. The first annual report is due to be laid before Parliament this spring.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to protect green spaces in the South East.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to protecting our environment. As set out on the 25 Year Environment Plan, we are drawing up a national framework of green infrastructure standards, ensuring that new developments include accessible green spaces and that any area with little or no green space can be improved for the benefit of the community. We intend to publish the standards in 2019 and incorporate them into planning guidance so that councils can use them when making planning decisions across the country - including in the south east.
Our revised planning rule book sets out how new development should happen in right places across the country including in the south east, through:
In September 2017, the Government created the ‘Parks Action Group’ comprising of experts from across the parks, heritage and the leisure sector and invested £500,000 to support the development of initiatives to identify solutions for safeguarding our parks and green spaces, to ensure they have long and sustainable futures.
The group has been working collaboratively across key priorities – including assessing quality standards and sharing good practice. We are currently developing a programme of work aimed at transforming the way in which green spaces are developed, managed and sustained.
We expect to announce our progress on this in early 2019.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to (a) protect the Green Belt and (b) maintain national protections for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and other environmental designations.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Defra has responsibility for policy on national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) and sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), while oversight of the planning system and green belt protections are the policy responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
a) The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that most types of new development in green belt are inappropriate, and should only be approved in very special circumstances. The Government published further guidance in October 2014, which reaffirmed the need to consider green belt protection when developing local plans. Policy also encourages the use of brownfield sites for development.
b) A quarter of England is protected as national park or AONB, recognising the importance of conserving and enhancing our finest landscapes, their culture and heritage; and the contribution our beautiful countryside makes to the nation’s prosperity and well-being. The NPPF contains strong planning policies to maintain the protection of these landscapes on the nation’s behalf. These policies provide national parks, the Broads and AONBs with the highest status of protection in relation to landscape and scenic beauty.
SSSIs are protected both by legislation and through the NPPF. Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) sets out provisions regarding the notification, protection and management of SSSIs, and requires authorities to take steps to further the conservation of SSSIs. The NPPF provides strong protection for SSSIs and for other environmental designations. It also directs planning authorities to give consideration to the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in their decision making.
Existing protections for the green belt, for our national parks, and for other environmental designations are robust and this Government is committed to maintaining that protection.