New ALGE Planning Report highlights the need for better local government support for the environment

[Trevor James]

The Association of Local Government Ecologists has recently issued an important report that shows, once again, just how badly supported the natural environment is through the planning system in this country.  This has been issued through the Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management.   See: http://www.cieem.net/news/158/alge-publish-report-on-ecological-capacity-and-competence-in-english-planning-authorities

The NFBR and its members should actively support and highlight this report, which shows all too clearly how, despite promises to the contrary, Government is failing to effectively underpin protection of the natural environment through vital planning policies and local authority implementation.

From the NFBR perspective, the most important factor is that impartial, rigorous information on the natural environment is no longer enough to ensure that these matters are properly taken into account, if they ever were.  They should be, and we should say so, clearly.

Trevor James