Protecting (and enhancing) the Green stuff!

This morning I recieved a letter in the post from the Chair of CPRE Buckinghamshire asking me a series of questions as a candidate. They were great questions! Here are my answers. 

Dear Paula

Many thanks for your letter and the packet of wildflower seeds!

I am very happy to answer your questions:

1) How will you support the development of a new Local Plan - to prioritise brownfield development, protect the green belt, support the rural economy and challenge Government dictated housing assumptions?

• Short answer - in every way possible!
• Increasingly the draft Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan is being found to be lacking. Any plan which can insist upon the massive and disproportionate expansion of a rural village (Maids Moreton), which blithely seeks to overturn the need for large numbers of affordable housing (25% as opposed to the 35% in the Buckingham Neighbourhood Development Plan) and which ignores the need for local infrastructure to sustain housing developments (Buckingham Western bypass) is not a good plan. 
• And if, if elected I will do my utmost to ensure that the new Buckinghamshire wide local plan is one that does all the points you mention and more! For example, I regard the beautiful countryside around Buckingham to be Green too. It also deserves protection just as much as the Green Belt in the south of the county! 

2) How will you challenge the OxCam arc development numbers to ensure they are focused on meeting local needs?

• To begin with the OxCam Arc should be renamed the 'Buckingham Bow' to emphasise that it is our area that is going to be most impacted by the proposals being discussed to develop industry and housing etc between the two famous university cities. And we have our own famous University here in Buckingham which should be at the centre of helping to ensure that local needs are met
• It is vitally important that any developments are created in tune with our local communities and countryside. Public engagement is key.
• Indeed, should I be elected, I will be using my influence to site any agency tasked with the job of planning for these developments (should they proceed) to be based in Buckingham. Indeed, it is something I would hope that the University would be able to partner with so that together we can create a Centre for Sustainable Development Excellence in our town.

3) How will you improve the county's transport networks and support access to transport for rural communities? 

• I have been campaigning for a fast north/south coach service linking Northampton, Towcester, Silverstone, Buckingham, Winslow, Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe since 2013 (https://ajustfuture.blogspot.com/2013/03/x444-bucks-northants-economic-express.html) in order bring people, jobs and low carbon together. As a Buckinghamshire Councillor I hope to be able to make this happen.
• I have been an active member of Aylesbury Vale Transport Users Group which aims to develop and problem solve issues around local public transport for several years
• Thinking of the future, we need to find bold and imaginative ways to subsidise and support public transport and low/no carbon travel. This means more charging points and partnership with industries keen to bring workers to their locations. It also means investing in local workspaces so that people can gain from the camaraderie of an office without travelling half way across the country to do so. 
• And we need to reframe how the council funds (for example) school transport which can mean more damage to the environment rather than less by encouraging, albeit probably unwittingly, a growth of car ownership amongst sixthform students and more car journeys to transport children to and from schools. 

4) How will you protect our farmers and farmland? These provide jobs, skills, biodiversity and land stewardship.

• The Council needs to review its policies for sourcing locally to begin with. When it comes to buying food for school and care home meals for example, are the products bought locally to help sustain the county's and country's farms? 
• What more can be done to support apprenticeships in rural communities and specifically on farms? Perhaps the Council can enable farmers to work together to develop such ideas?
• But the first thing I would do is listen, lots, to the needs of farmers and farmworkers and discover what ideas they have.

5) What support for the county's rural areas will you give, to provide affordable housing and better broadband?

• Short answer - lots and lots!! 
• As I say above, we need to ensure that the County wide local plan ensures adequate and fair distribution of affordable housing.
• When new developments are built, unlike in Lace Hill, Buckingham for example, fast, optic fibre broadband, needs to be built in from the outset. This will probably necessitate involving parish and town councils far more in the creation of 106 agreements as it is evident that the planning authorities have, shall we say, not quite been as much 'on the ball' as local parish/town councillors are!
• Getting fast BB to remote rural areas is undoubtedly a challenge but solutions have been found for villages through imagination and industry support. We need some fresh thinking in this area

6) What action will you take to promote local, sustainable, affordable produce?

• See above about local procurement using the County's purse as it were.
• I think the Council could do more to inform consumers about what is grown in the county and what is imported by working with local food growing associations and food retailers. 
• There are some very successful farmers' markets and some that have nor survived. I would hope to explore what are the differences that make the difference between success and failure and help local farmers and towns establish and expand such markets.

7) What action will you take to prevent further destruction to our countryside environment - from over-development, deforestation and the degradation of our rivers?

• Measurement is key here. As a local town councillor in Buckingham, I have worked with colleagues to monitor and count the number of trees lost over the last few years in the town. It is a creeping problem which might otherwise go unnoticed. Hence we need something like this countywide. By measuring we can raise the topic up the political agenda and spot any patterns which might be either enhanced (if they are good ones) or disrupted (if they are bad). 
• Much of this comes through assessing the applications to develop housing and other other infrastructures. We need a planning system that is much more tuned towards protecting and enhancing the green stuff in our environment rather than focusing on concrete and tarmac. 
• I am surprised that you have not mentioned flooding as an issue which is crying out for more imagination, investment, and radical action 
• And where is HS2 in your questions? Although it is going ahead - the development of which needs urgent mitigation to ensure that trees and countryside are not destroyed any more than absolutely necessary. 

Please do publish my answers. I will be doing so on my campaign blog as well (https://votejonharvey.blogspot.com) 

Thanks for your letter. Some great questions to get my teeth into and which has helped me to do some more thinking about all these matters!