We have already told you about the enhanced protection given to Protected Landscapes such as the Quantock Hills by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA). Last December teams from the National Landscapes and Exmoor National Park issued a briefing paper that set out what this means for our local council. In brief, the changes imposed an active duty to ‘seek to further’ the statutory purposes of Protected Landscapes.
The scope of the Act is wide and it includes all aspects of planning policy that could affect The Quantocks and their setting including “development undertaken through permitted development rights where prior approval on relevant planning matters is required”.
It is disappointing that, since the Act came into force, Somerset Council officers have approved two very large agricultural buildings within the NL with no evidence that they have complied with the terms of the Act. Friends of the Quantocks made representations in both cases. FotQ supports buildings that are genuinely intended to aid agriculture but these cannot be exempt from legislation intended to enhance the purpose of the National Landscape designation.
The briefing paper points out that
………relevant authorities’ decisions are at risk of challenge in courts by third parties if it cannot be expressly demonstrated whether or how the duty to “seek to further” was complied with in making the decision.” The reality of this risk has been proved already where Local Authority decisions that have ignored the new Act have been successfully challenged.
At a time when the wider countryside faces unprecedented challenges it is important that we hold onto the crumb of comfort provided by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act.
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