The Government has committed to reforming planning regulations to drive economic growth and fulfil its ambitious housing targets and infrastructure development. It intends to use the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill to introduce legislative changes that it says will enable development in a more efficient and effective way.

However, at the Landscape Institute, we are concerned that such planning reforms will come at the expense of landscape considerations. Housing and infrastructure must work with nature, climate and people for the long-term. Environmental measures cannot simply be sidelined or reallocated to more distant parts of the UK.

That will not help us fulfil our legal Net Zero obligations, it will do little to remedy our depleted nature, it won’t tackle the growing issue of flooding in our own areas, and it will not support local measures to support public health and well-being.

Development for economic growth must go in tandem with local environmental delivery to be truly successful.