One of the biggest threats to our freedoms is in danger of quietly slipping through uncontested under the guise of speeding up moves to secure energy security.
One of the Planning and Infrastructure Reform Bill’s main aims is to throw up major infrastructure across vast tracts of countryside, shrugging off community objections.
A government press release trumpeting the bill says “new powers for the Secretary of State could stop councils rejecting planning permissions, tackle blockers in the courts…the government vows to sweep aside blockers…” It said the bill is set to become law this year.
But while the public’s attention has been diverted by much chatter around illegal immigrants and ID cards, the planning infrastructure bill has been quietly sliding by almost unnoticed.
It has had readings in the House of Commons and is tabled for a final reading in the House of Lords before a final stage in the Commons.
How could it change things? Well, for one, officials would be able to force entry onto your property in pursuit of developing new infrastructure, and prosecute any landowners who obstruct access whilst trying to protect their own property.
This includes all property, not just bricks and mortar; property that has been long-toiled and much-loved means nothing to this bill and the developers who will notify farmers by email that they no longer have rights to their land.
LAND (Lincolnshire Against Needless Destruction) is urging constituents to write to their MPs asking them to reject the Planning and Infrastructure Reform Bill in its current form.
It has prepared an in-depth analysis of the bill, revealing the ways in which it would negatively impact ordinary members of the public and the legal and legislative challenges that should be made to resist it.
It has made this document available for residents to send to their MPs.
LAND says: “This Bill does not protect the public – it threatens us.
It grants sweeping powers of compulsory purchase that could be exercised wherever and whenever the government or developers deem it convenient, undermining the very security of land and home ownership.
It treats the forced loss of property as a mere transaction, ignoring the profound emotional, social and financial impact on those affected. This legislation is not enabling, it is disabling.
“The bill rides roughshod over communities, favouring corporations and infrastructure expediency at the expense of fairness, transparency and public engagement. It silences local voices and dismisses the unique knowledge and lived experience that communities bring to planning decisions – knowledge that cannot be replicated by desk-based assessments or centralised models. The ‘beat the blockers’ attitude is a misrepresentation.
It assumes that those objecting to proposals do so without good reason. In most cases the ‘blockers’ are well-informed with well-reasoned valid commentary that deserves consideration.
“Rejecting this Bill is not a rejection of progress. It is a defence of democratic planning, of procedural justice, and of the principle that development must be done with people – not to them.
“Any government that truly seeks growth must do so in partnership with its citizens, not by stripping away their rights. It fails the people it claims to serve. And any self-respecting MP who entered politics to make a difference in the lives of others should see clearly that rejecting this Bill is not only right, it is necessary.”
Help to object to the Bill can be found at https://www.lincsland.co.uk/infrastructure-planning-bill
LAND is also asking people to sign a petition to stop the bill at https://tinyurl.com/mrxbaa72
Andrew Malkin
Lincolnshire Against Needless Destruction
