Planning beyond growth

Since the general election, the UK’s planning system has been eagerly positioned front and centre of the Labour government’s ambition to drive economic growth through the development of new housing and infrastructure.

In the rhetoric across government, industry and the public can be found a tension between economic growth and environmental sustainability: How can we ‘get Britain building’ in such a way that drives green growth and delivers the homes we desperately need, while also addressing the very real challenges we face in climate change, biodiversity loss, and public health?

“By taking a landscape-led approach,” says Ian Phillips CMLI MRTPI (p8) in his introduction to the issue – and this is the premise on which much of what follows is built.

We present, and critique, emerging government policy seeking to integrate nature into development and make better use of our land, including contributions from the Better Planning Coalition (p14), Natural England (p20), and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (p44). We focus on the peri-urban edges where the most impactful projects could manifest, from the newly designated ‘grey belt’ (p52) to new towns (p62), and gain perspectives from across the devolved nations (p49). We highlight the ongoing necessity of vital landscape policy instruments such as Biodiversity Net Gain (p38), sustainable drainage systems (p40), and Landscape Character Assessment (p56), and highlight the public sector skills gap that could compromise their effectiveness (p33). As well as looking at what all of this means on the ground with case studies from the north and south of England (pp24,28), we also bring you the latest from the Landscape Institute, with news on our Standing Committees (p67), and a look ahead to our new corporate strategy (p70).

With nature having been unfairly pitched as the blocker to development and growth, this edition of the Journal seeks to reestablish it as the enabler, and very foundation, of long-term social, economic and environmental value. As LI Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Belinda Gordon, points out: ‘LI members are the ones who can cross this divide’ (p12).

Josh Cunningham Managing editor