According to the UK Green Party website the Green Party will try to achieve the following if they gain power at the 2010 general election:
CY550 To separate the land surface into specially designated areas that are to be treated in ways that preserve their ecological diversity is a sad indictment of the way our society treats the land. Such areas become ‘honeypots’ for nature and tourists whilst the rest of the countryside is allowed to become an industrial wasteland. We see the whole of the countryside as important for conservation and will treat all land as environmentally sensitive.
CY551 Being aware of the current political realities we support the Countryside Commission’s plea for a thorough review of the bewildering system of designated areas and in the long term will expand conservation principles to the whole of the countryside. In the short term our policies on designations will be as follows.
CY552 National Parks. National Parks have failed to give the adequate ecological protection to the countryside they were intended to give, due to a lack of power, gross under-funding and confused and divided authorities.
CY553 In the long term the lessons learned from National Parks in their attempts to arrest unbridled agricultural, forestry, industrial and mining developments will be applied to the whole countryside. The Parks (and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) will then become unnecessary and will be phased out.
CY554 In the short term we will widen the role of National Parks and the Park Authorities and support the extension of existing National parks and the designation of National Parks in other areas, such as the National Scenic Areas in Scotland, the North Pennines, South Downs and New Forest in England and the Cambrian Mountains in Wales.
CY555 Military Use of National Parks. The Green Party considers that the use of National Parks for artillery ranges and other forms of military training are destructive and incompatible with the designation of a National Park and its continuance cannot be tolerated. We will press for the earliest withdrawal of military training within National Parks.
CY556 Minerals in National Parks. We oppose all mineral developments until the 1976 Stevens enquiry into planning control over mineral development, that called for a national survey of key minerals and a national strategy for their conservation, is implemented, and even then we may impose extra provisos.
CY557 Road Building and National Parks. The Green Party will halt all damaging road construction and ‘improvements’ within National Parks.
CY558 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). We will keep the designation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), National Nature Reserves (NNRs) and Scheduled Ancient Monuments. In addition we will give local authorities the power to make Countryside Conservation Orders to protect vulnerable features which require conservation.
CY559 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. AONBs will receive comparable status to National Parks. They will eventually become unnecessary as our wider policies on conservation for the whole countryside come into force.
CY560 Green Belts. Green Belts, as they are currently defined, are a rather blunt instrument that have:
a) Helped to protect land for agriculture or recreation but have not positively promoted these activities.
b) Prevented the worst excesses of sprawl
c) Have sustained the separations between towns but sometimes only for the convenience of motorways, leisure complexes, gravel pits and other claims on the urban fringe.
CY561 The Green Party will retain and rigorously strengthen Green Belt legislation as a positive measure to revitalise the countryside and encourage the extension of the Green Belts into the cities. We will end the pressure on Green Belts by policies that:
a) Reject economic-growth-orientated development in favour of conservation (see ‘Economy’ section).
b) End the speculation in land in towns and cities; (see ‘Land’ section).
c) Encourage the building of thriving communities in urban areas.
d) Reduce population numbers (see ‘Population’ section).
e) Extend Environmental and Social Impact Statements into all areas of decision making
f) Make rural communities rewarding places to live and work in, which will end rural depopulation.
CY562 Environmentally Sensitive Areas. The Green Party welcomes the concept of Environmentally Sensitive Areas where agricultural support may be used for environmentally sympathetic ends, and wishes to see the concept extended to the whole of the countryside. However, there are problems with the existing scheme that will have to be resolved before we see ESAs having a positive role to play in securing the future of the countryside.
I would be interested to hear both positive and negative views on UK Green Party’s Countryside Designations policies in the comments below?