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[[link removed]]CAMPAIGNS UPDATE
April 2025

Dear John

In early March, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced in the House
of Commons. This Bill is important. It affects the future of the system we use
to decide where to build new homes and infrastructure. While we’re increasingly
concerned about its impact on local democracy, we're doing everything we can to
make sure the impact will be positive for the countryside.

The government wants the Bill to speed up the planning system, supporting their
key goals of growth, clean energy, and accelerated housebuilding which will
enable them to deliver 1.5 million homes by 2030. To achieve this, the bill set
out a range of new measures,
[[link removed]] including changes to planning committees and reforms to key planning processes.

Without changes being made, it could significantly reduce community involvement
in planning decisions and weaken the ability for local people to have a say in
challenging harmful developments. We’re working hard to ensure that local voices
remain at the heart of the planning system.


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WHAT WE'RE CALLING FOR
We’ve teamed up with other organisations to create the Better Planning Coalition [[link removed]] (BPC). Collectively, we want to see protections put in place to make sure
communities are heard, and local democracy is supported:

* Local planning committees should retain control over key applications to
uphold democracy, protect community voices, and hold developers accountable.



* Parliamentary scrutiny of the policies affecting big infrastructure
development (National Policy Statements) is essential for accountability. We
successfully campaigned for this in 2008 and must defend it now.


* Public participation in policies affecting local land use and development
(Spatial Development Strategies) must be enabled to ensure communities have a
say in shaping their local areas.




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HOW WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE TOGETHER
We are lobbying the government to push for key changes that will protect our
countryside and communities.

We’re asking the government to:

* Redefine ‘affordable housing’ to link it to local incomes, making homes more
accessible for rural and local communities.



* Increase incentives for brownfield development to ensure these sites are used
before green spaces are lost.



* Prioritise rooftop solar in the energy conversation.



* Strengthen policies that link local plans to the upcoming Land Use Framework.



We’re informing MPs from all parties about the possible impacts the Bill might
have on their communities and seeking support for change. We're also working
with Better Planning Coalition (BPC) to show how much alignment there is for the
common sense changes we're seeking - including on local democracy. We’re also
working to identify Peers who can champion these changes in the House of Lords.

If you’ve written to your MP, we’d love to hear from you! Your insights help us
shape our approach and strengthen our lobbying efforts. We will be in touch as
opportunities for you to influence the bill arise. Together, we can make a
difference.

Get in touch
[[email protected]?subject=I%E2%80%99ve%20Contacted%20My%20MP%20About%20the%20Planning%20%26%20Infrastructure%20bill]
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Best wishes,

Paul

Head of Policy and Planning

PS: Welcome to our new weekly email. We will still be sharing the latest updates
on our campaigns and lobbying, news on nature, government announcements, and
ways you can get involved. But instead of monthly, you’ll get updates each week
to make sure we give you the information you need as soon as we have it.

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