Please read this latest statement from the Gardens Trust
PLANNING REFORM TO GET BRITAIN BUILDING
The government proposes to remove the Gardens Trust from the list of Statutory Consultees to be notified of a planning application which affects an historic park or garden.
This news is very bad for the Gardens Trust and for the county Trusts; it means that developers large and small wishing to build on land which is of heritage value would no longer be subject to scrutiny. It is the local council planning department which is currently obliged to notify us of any such plan; if this obligation is removed, a developer would be able to target a site which is of heritage significance, knowing there would be little threat of objection from a county Trust or from the national Gardens Trust (because we should probably not find out about the proposal).
Not only is this a threat to historic parks and gardens, it is a threat to the wildlife which they nurture. These sites are usually very old and are therefore rich habitats; Britain has the highest number of lost habitats of any western nation, and the highest number of declining species. If we protect historic parks and gardens, we protect the flora and fauna which shelter in them.
Our towns and cities have a diminishing amount of open, green spaces; they act as a green lung, as a patch of visual relief from close buildings, and in the case of land which is accessible to the public, an opportunity for some exercise in fresh air. It is proved that all these are benefits to our health.
Please contact your councillor and MP urgently about this. Please also respond to the Gardens Trust appeal on social media.
Historic parks and gardens aren’t being made any more.
Read the full statement here