South east
CPRE Thame successfully campaigned against an Oxford City Council plan for damaging floodlighting in the countryside.
The council applied to South Oxfordshire District Council for floodlighting in the car park adjacent to their sports ground in the Green Belt. It was claimed that the lighting was needed to tackle drug peddling and amorous liaisons.
CPRE Thame told councillors at the planning committee meeting that whilst Green Belt regulations allowed facilities for sport this meant essential facilities only, not floodlighting public car parks. Councillors voted 11 to 1 to overturn the officers’ recommendation and refuse the application.
In due course the city council appealed. At a public hearing in January CPRE Thame again made the case against light pollution. The inspector’s decision confirmed CPRE Thame’s argument. He said: ‘the proliferation of night light in the area of the appeal site would add to the creeping urbanisation into the Green Belt, to the detriment of the rural character of the area….
‘I acknowledge that there is a palpable risk of crime in the car park. I, therefore, agree that the proposed development would accord with central government guidance on crime prevention as set out in PPS 1. However, I do not consider that these benefits would outweigh the harm that would be caused to the character, appearance and visual qualities of the area or to the consistency and integrity of the Green Belt.’
The decision was significant in that it said that although lighting would give a public benefit in terms of increased security, the public benefit from maintaining dark countryside was greater.
Local designations saved (Surrey)
When the draft Surrey structure plan was being reviewed, the panel of inspectors reviewing the plan recommended the designation of 'areas of great landscape value' (AGLV) be abolished.
This local designation, like local designations in other countries, protects important land that doesn't have a national designation like national park. Following a co-ordinated national and local campaign by CPRE, Surrey County Council rejected the panel report recommendation.
AGLVs in Surrey date back to before 1958. The Surrey Hills Management Plan, published this year, recognises the importance of the AGLV land in protecting the integrity of the Surrey Hills landscape, particularly with respect to views to and from the area. In addition, the AGLV designation in Surrey affords protection to nationally important countryside not only within but also outside the Green Belt, around for example Chiddingfold in Waverly district, where ancient woodland habitats are of vital significance for endangered flora and fauna.
Dibden Bay saved
CPRE Hampshire helped to stop a container port from being built along nearly two kilometres of unspoilt coastline.
A proposed container terminal at Dibden Bay, on the edge of the New Forest, would have destroyed wildlife areas of national and international importance and prevented the area's inclusion in the New Forest National Park. Dibden Bay lies within the Southampton Water Special Protection Area and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
CPRE Hampshire's campaign against the super-port included giving evidence at a public inquiry. Branch Chairman Christopher Napier credits the branch's expertise and focus for its success.
'I think the success we had with the public inspector [at the inquiry] was due in the main to restricting our evidence to those topics where our witnesses had something positive to contribute, either because of specific expertise available amongst our witnesses, or because it was a topic where CPRE would be taken to have authority, such as with landscape and national parks.
'But even in the latter topics we did not pursue points which were clearly questionable. For instance, it was clear that the proposed container port would have minimal landscape impact on the New Forest core, but a massive impact on the outlook from Southampton, so we concentrated on the visual impact on Southampton.'