With the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in its committee stage, we have to counter the myth that there is the economy or the environment.
And that when it comes to planning, people can either have homes or a healthy environment.
People need homes, not just houses, and they need a well-planned community and a rich, diverse and flourishing environment in which to live; there for them, their children and the whole planet.
Seeing ‘environmental targets’ as barriers to growth and development misses the point; targets help us to focus our actions on protecting our environment for everyone.
“Seeing environmental targets as barriers to growth misses the point”
We need to acknowledge our collective responsibility, and we do that through democracy.
Whether it’s planning or local government reorganisation, people have the right to have a say over major changes to their communities.
If democracy is seen as an inconvenience to the ‘smooth running of things’, then we really are in trouble.
This year, democracy has already been deemed ‘unnecessarily costly’ as local elections were cancelled, or postponed, removing the ability of the public to hold their elected members to account through the ballot box.
The message the public is hearing is that their vote, and voting, doesn’t matter. As I knock on doors in Lancashire, the disturbing message coming back repeatedly, is: “I’m not voting this time; it doesn’t make any difference.”