Latest from CPRE Notts

27 April 2010
-extract from report to CPRE East Midlands regional group

Greater Nottingham Aligned Core Strategy

Attention has been concentrated over the past two months on responding to the consultation on the preferred option for the Aligned Core Strategy. The Strategy contains proposals for a number of Sustainable Urban Extensions of the urban area of Greater Nottingham (which includes Erewash District in Derbyshire) into the surrounding Green Belt. The amount of housing proposed to 2026 accords with the approved RSS.

The Branch felt strongly that we should continue to challenge the overall housing figures as well as the environmental impact of particular SUEs. We have argued that there has been a fundamental change in circumstances since the RSS was approved, and that because of uncertainty over future rates of growth, the Strategy should look afresh at its housing targets. With support from Lisa Hopkinson we have suggested alternative ways of assessing future housing needs which would reduce the housing target from a minimum of 52,000 by 2026 to a maximum of 30,000 by 2021.

As part of this campaign, a publicity leaflet was produced urging people to object to the housing numbers, and, in addition, to request their prospective parliamentary candidates to support scrapping the house building targets in the Strategy. Our formal response also included concerns about policies on climate change, travel demand and transport infrastructure, landscape character, biodiversity, and the failure to give sufficient attention to the future of the countryside as a strategic issue.

Although not a formal Joint Strategy, it is a spatial strategy for the future development of a City Region that includes a number of local authorities and crosses a County boundary. Because of this, the process of preparing the response and the leaflet has highlighted the importance of close co-operation between different CPRE groups.

Awards and Events

The Valerie Gillespie Cup, awarded annually by the Branch for a community initiative which enhances the environment, was presented by Peter Holland to Pat Foulds at a meeting of Norwell Parish Council on 1st March. Pat was the driving force behind the restoration and extension of allotments on formerly neglected land close to the heart of the village. The award was well covered by the local press.

Nominations have recently been invited for the Harry Johnson Award for the best new or restored building within a Nottinghamshire village. Sponsored jointly by CPRE and the Nottinghamshire Building Preservation Trust, it is awarded every two years. Entries have also been invited for the annual Best Kept Village award.

A Spring Lunch was held on 18th April to promote the new Tranquil Path that has been created by the Branch through attractive countryside between the villages of Halam and Farnsfield.

Peter Winstanley
CPRE Nottinghamshire