MMETAG Conference Marston Vale 2050 Your Vision for

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Your Vision for the Future Alan Apling – CPRE Bedfordshire alan. apling@cprebeds. org. uk

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Conservation and Economic Development Mutually Exclusive?

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 If what we are trying to Conserve is “The Countryside” and if Economic Development demands new-build that reduces or degrades our stock of countryside then. Yes, they are mutually exclusive.

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Making the case for the countryside when it is threatened by development is vital because the dynamics of change are biased. . .

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 The built environment expands today’s development is tomorrow’s baseline for further development. The countryside contracts – projects that increase rural character at the expense of the built environment are rare.

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 What to do when Development threatens Countryside • Challenge the case for development. • Use the Planning System and be alert for attempts to side-step planning law. • Establish the value and benefits of the countryside to stand against the case for development.

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Challenging the development case See www. MMETAG. com • Arguments

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Challenging the development case CPRE’s 10 Tests for Eco-Towns. 1. . affected communities fully consulted? 2. . proposal tested through Regional Spatial Stategy and Local Development Frameworks? 3. . evidence that proposal is most sustainable option compared with other options? 4. . efficient use of land? 5. . genuinely carbon neutral?

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 6. . foster sense of community, achieve CABE gold standards, prioritise pedestrians and non-motorised transport? 7. . subject to independent Landscape Character Assessment and conserves resources? 8. . complete communities fostering sustainable lifestyles? 9. . well connected by public transport and with local supply networks? 10. . does not provide an excuse for other development not meeting the highest environmental standards?

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Use Planning System and Law • Regional Spatial Strategy and MKSM Sub. Regional Plan only identify Northern Marston Vale as a growth area, cf Eco. Town Sustainability Assessment which interpreted the whole Vale as being a growth area.

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 • Legal opinion for CPRE on the draft Planning Policy Statement on Eco-Towns. § By identifying selected sites outside the development plan process “and requiring that they be given ‘material weight’ the Government would be usurping the function of the local planning authorities and distorting the plan making process”. Released by CPRE Monday 6 April.

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Establishing the value of the countryside • Independently • Within Local Development Frameworks.

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Bedfordshire’s countryside Why is it worth protecting?

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Greensand Ridge Wavendon Heath South Husborne Crawley from Hulcote

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Marston Vale Houghton House and The Greensand Ridge Wood End and Marston Thrift

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 Landscape Character Assessments. . . according to Central Bedfordshire; “A LCA is a method used for understanding what the landscape is like, how it came to be like that, and how it may change in the future”

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050. . . contd. “The purpose of a LCA is to help ensure that change and development does not undermine what ever is characteristic or valued about a particular place, and ways of improving the character of a place. LCA aims to provide a strong and robust evidence base to help ensure future change and development conserve and enhance rather than erode landscape character. ”

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050. . contd. “Stakeholder views are critical to the success and potential influence of a LCA. Local comments strengthen understanding about what is important and valued about a landscape and the reasons why. This understanding can, in turn, help ensure that future management respects valued characteristics, elements and features of a landscape. ”

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 What do you think of the portrayal of the North Marston Vale in the Mid Beds LCA? • Does it reflect fully the value of the countryside you want to conserve? • Does it convey adequately how the value of the Marston Vale countryside could increase? • Are you content for the current LCA to stand as the coutryside case to set against any development that threatens it?

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050 If not, seek to get the LCA up-dated to • Establish the countryside value of the Marston Vale, • Set out a vision for how the Vale’s countryside value can be enhanced, • Contribute to the evidence base to help ensure future change and development conserve and enhance rather than erode landscape character.

MMETAG Conference - Marston Vale 2050