The Landscape Institute is in a unique position vis-a-vis the Government’s development agenda – both the commitment to build 1.5m homes in England and develop infrastructure, including significant energy and grid development, across the UK. We bridge the ‘builders v blockers’ narrative that has developed, unfairly pitching nature concerns as preventing development.
LI members are the ones who can cross this divide, ensuring we get the housing and infrastructure we need but crucially that this development is high quality, creating places that deliver for people and the environment for the long term.
The policy team at the LI, ably supported by members and staff with policy, technical and comms expertise, has been busy over the last few months exploiting this unique position and expertise. Six months after I joined as Director of Policy and Public Affairs it feels like a good time to update members on our activities and future approach to influencing policy.
Strategy:
Given both planning and environmental policy are devolved we have the challenge of influencing 4 administrations with limited staff resources. Based on this we are moving our activities upstream from responding to written consultations (by when many decisions have already been made) to engaging more directly with Government sooner. With this in mind, the team have been building links with Government officials, agencies and partners, as well as developing some focused policy influencing priorities to use as a way in and to build out our broader message about the importance of all landscapes and the vital role of landscape professionals.
Given the emphasis the government is placing on built development, our priorities for this year all relate to that agenda – to have impact we can’t spread our resources too thinly.
To help guide this approach we’ve also been renewing our Standing Committees, establishing a new Policy and Public Affairs Committee, chaired by Ian Philips CMLI, and a Knowledge and Practice Committee which will ensure members guide these areas of work. We were delighted by the response to our call for members to get involved and by the quality of applicants. The new membership will be announced shortly.
Action:
To begin to deliver this approach the team have been busy meeting organisations such as Natural England (on BNG as well as broader landscape issues), MHCLG (to discuss both design and broader planning policy), Defra (on SuDS), Northern Irish government and partners on design, Scottish Government Planning Division, connecting with partners such as TCPA, RTPI on planning, Construction Industry Council on skills and immigration, Northern Ireland Environment Link on rural infrastructure, Historic Environment Scotland and BALI Scotland on skills and training needs, Fields in Trust and Greenspace Scotland, Learning through Landscapes, The Wales Landscape Group and IEMA on Environmental Outcome Reports and working with the Better Planning Coalition on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
We have continued responding and preparing responses to critical consultations such as the Land Use Framework and the creation of a new National Park in Scotland.
We will shortly be publishing updated data on the landscape workforce (an update to our 2022 Skills for Greener Places Report). And we are preparing a crucial document that will make the case for a landscape-led approach to built development, aimed at both developers and policy makers, to be launched at UKREiiF in May and outlined at a webinar in June.
Impact:
It is too early to be able to judge our impact – it is clear that in Scotland, where we have strong links with the government, we have influenced policies such as Scotland’s Flood Resilience Strategy. In England we are getting on the government’s radar, getting invited to feed into things – such as a newly formed MHCLG Design Sector Forum and various National Energy System Operator fora.
As we launch a new brand identity, Corporate Strategy and case for a landscape-led approach to development in the next few months, our visibility and impact will grow and we will have more tangible policy ‘wins’ to outline in future.
Coming up:
In particular, in the next few months we’ll be developing plans for each of the policy influencing priorities outlined above, with input from the new Committees. And focusing on influencing the rapidly changing planning agenda in England – from Environmental Outcome Reports, to another set of changes to the NPPF to be consulted on shortly.
We are also planning day conferences around the UK, with a focus on housing and regeneration, as well as webinars and masterclasses on relevant issues and journal editions on planning policy, landscape-led development, and biodiversity.
We are dependent on member expertise to help guide and inform our policy work. We will be recruiting another set of members to our new Policy and Public Affairs Committee next year but in the meantime we are looking for members for our Task and Finish groups on issues such as planning. If you’d like to help with this, please contact the policy team at policy@landscapeinstitute.org.
Written by
Belinda Gordon
Director of Policy and Public Affairs
