The Government talks about giving people more of a say, so why is Friends of the Earth so critical?
While the Government talks about increasing public involvement, it is removing your existing rights to have a voice in local planning. The most obvious example of this is the Government’s attempt to remove the right to be heard at a public inquiry into local policy. The Government also wants to take away local peoples rights to have your say over major infrastructure projects by restricting the remit of public inquiries to detailed issues such as mitigation measures and legal agreements. Participation in planning is only meaningful if it’s backed by rights. The Government has ruled out third party rights which would have been a major step in creating a fair planning system.
