Labour’s not listening

The UK government’s White Paper “Planning for a Sustainable Future” is in its consultation phase. While the Labour administration talk nicely about affordable housing and eco-homes, they are not currently providing much of either, though they say they plan to in a couple of years.

The White Paper is mainly aimed at forcing through large national infrastructure projects like airports and power stations, but it represents a unique opportunity to bring in an off-grid category of planning permission, which would allow another 25,000 homes a year to be built off-grid.

Off-grid housing in rural and urban settings would provide low cost housing with a much lower carbon footprint than grid connected homes. Lets make sure Whitehall listens to the tens of thousands of people who want to live this way. Please support this campaign.

Please write to your MP or local legislator arguing for a new category of planning permssion for off-grid homes.

Please do so using the form below.

FROM Your name and address

To:

I wish to register my objection to the lack of proposals in the Planning White Paper to encourage and assist low-density, off-grid housing to be built in rural and urban areas.

I believe that a new category of off-grid planning permission would allow an additional 25,000 homes to be built each year with zero government subsidies, and all these homes would have very low carbon consumption. That is what should be meant by sustainable development.

This new category of permission would only be granted to homes which are not connected to the mains utilities in any way, and should be irreversible so that once granted the property could not be later transferred to on-grid status.

Such policy would only require 50,000 acres per year to produce the above number of new homes, a tiny fraction of the unused land in this country. If necessary some land could be compulsorily purchased from the largest landowners who between them own millions of acres of countryside.

I wish to further register my objection to the proposal in the Planning White Paper to remove major infrastructure projects from
the public inquiry system and have them assessed by an appointed commission in line with predetermined policies.. This is an
undemocratic procedure, at odds with everything that a Labour government ought to stand for.

If this measure is introduced and major developments are granted permission without allowing the public to present all the
arguments against them, then objectors will have no alternative but to resort to the kind of direct action campaigns that led to
the abandonment of the Conservative Government’s road programme in the early 1990s.

I therefore request that this proposal is immediately dropped, and that the Government devotes its attention to ensuring that the
existing public inquiry system allows members of the public to present their views about proposed developments, in the confidence
that all such views, whatever they may be, will be given full and fair consideration by the Secretary of State.
Yours Sincerely
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