Civic Societies developed across England reflecting the Civic values of their populations. Campaigns to ‘get something done’ have helped to create arguments and improvements in all aspects of village, town and city life. Cleanliness, attractiveness and usefulness are the watchwords. More recently environmentally friendly has been added to that list.
Alongside these ambitions work was done to rekindle Civic pride after the wars by repairing and conserving special buildings and areas.
Populations have dramatically changed. Science and technology, and the NHS and Welfare State, all affect how people view living in England. The numbers of people leaving to make new lives abroad has gradually been outstripped by the numbers of people settling in England. The numbers of babies born has gone down, then up again. The result is that there is a vibrant work force, housebuilding is booming, and the tax revenues improve, although of course the tax burden has also gone up to service the rising needs.
Governments believe that a country that is building homes is thriving, so they encourage it. In 2011 the Government introduced the Localism Act to ‘disperse power more widely’ in Britain. Local Planning Authorities were enabled – it seemed – to have more say over where and how housing could be built. The power of Planning Authorities was said to be greater. Planning reforms followed.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was introduced in March 2012 to overturn previous planning laws. It was meant to enable communities to influence where housing could and should be built, and to what standards. Promoting ownership and acceptance of planning applications and changes.
But alongside there came central Government requirements and formulae – how to calculate the number of dwellings each planning authority must build within how long. It is a complex system that sent Waverley planners into dizzy spells – where and how to allow the building of thousands of dwellings in our rural communities. NPPF has been changed several times and is the subject of further change, to simplify and enable even more housing. The latest consultation is available on line although it has closed. It is complex and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has fully responded and taken some of the work out of the process for others. So now there is a debate as to how to rebut the findings of the new calculations so that rural communities are not built over in a truly unsympathetic way.
What can you do? Help Cranleigh Society to monitor and understand, to campaign and help planners to get it right. We hear that most people ‘accept’ the need for more housing. Most people would prefer there to be dwellings that their children can afford to rent or buy. They want their area to remain beautiful or be improved, not overshadowed and overused.
The NPPF says that Local Authorities must have a Local Plan that has been accepted by the Inspector, at all times. This document shows where dwellings can be built. Thus developers and home builders can expect planning applications to go through swimmingly.
AND – Cranleigh and other areas now have Neighbourhood Plans which also feed into this system – of expecting people to accept new housing.
It all helps the infrastructure folk to predict what they must do to accommodate rising populations. Such as the 10 year plans of Thames Water – bringing new fresh water feeds into Cranleigh area.
Every planning application is important and should be scrutinised independently. Would you like to be part of that team? The team usually meets on the last Wednesday of each month and works on all the different aspects and topics in between. The input of Civic Societies does make a difference – planners and councillors depend on public interest and information.
