Hunter-Clyde Watershed Group - Land and Local Governance

Here is my personal submission to the commission:

Heritage and Land Use Planning – some useful ideas from the United Kingdom

Author: Andrew Lush, Hunter River, PEI

Synopsis

The contrast between PEI and UK heritage protection and planning practices could not be more stark. Compared to the UK, we are doing no planning whatsoever. We have a lot to learn by looking at how things might be managed more effectively. The most important take-home point is that planning should involve all government departments, all levels of government and all of the land.

Rights and responsibilities

Citizens of the United Kingdom have never had the land rights that we enjoy in Canada - the right to do whatever you like with your own land. For the past 400 years, UK laws have regulated development – sometimes in a draconian manner – and prior to that, the feudal system ensured that power over the land was in the hands of a privileged few (11).

In 1947, the UK Town and Country Planning Act nationalized the right to develop land (10). Concerns at that time were ribbon development; urban sprawl; environmental pollution (10). This law, and other laws, have ensured that even with 15 times the population density of PEI, there are still vast areas of open countryside. Farmland remains as farmland.

Spatial Strategy

The Spatial Strategy, which splits the country into regions (such as North East England), sets out long term targets for housing and economic growth (1). Any new development has to be part of a national plan, and the strategic planning process flows from Parliament, down through regions, counties, districts and towns – and back up again. A Sustainability Appraisal is needed for each development, as is a Strategic Environmental Assessment (10). Jobs, housing, tourism, transportation, energy, environment and farming are all taken into account in the planning process. If a company builds a factory, they have to build houses and infrastructure too.

This system ensures that if a particular community is not allocated any housing development in a particular year, then no land in that community can be re-zoned for housing that year. Evidence of this can be seen in many towns where the houses end and the fields begin, and those houses are often many decades old (12). This results in more compact communities, which makes transportation, municipal services and utilities much more efficient.

In 2007, a bill was introduced (13) to tax the perceived increase in the value of rezoned land, as soon as it is rezoned. Developers must have planning permission, and may have detailed restrictions placed upon their developments. Financial contributions are often sought to offset the negative effects on the local community.

Some quotes from the UK government’s Planning, Building and Environment department:

“we protect and enhance the environment through the planning system” (5)
“we are gradually tightening up the building regulations [with the aim of] zero carbon” (5)
“without a planning system, everyone could construct buildings everywhere, or use land in any way they wanted to, no matter what effect this would have on other people” (1)
“areas have special protection against certain developments because they contain attractive landscapes” (14)

Public Land

National Parks are their own planning authorities. They cover 20% of Wales and 9.3% of the UK, and 12% of the world (3). PEI’s federal (6) and Provincial parks only cover 1% of the province, and Wildlife Management Areas another 1% (15), so we have some catching up to do. The National Trust, a UK charity, owns 1.7% of the land and the fact that 7% of the population are paying members of the National Trust says a lot (16).

Sustainable Development

Planning rules are by no means conservative and anti-development. For instance the Lake District planning authority, which covers one of the most beautiful tourist areas of the UK, has the following aims: (2)

Promote energy efficiency and sustainable design
Sustainable transport
New housing that best meets the needs of local communities
Housing restricted for local people
Working with the builders of a nuclear energy plant

In PEI, the unfettered development of rural subdivisions, ribbon development along highways, the destruction of our historic buildings, the sub-dividing of farms, the complete lack of any planning and the location of public facilities based upon patronage can only lead to bad results - more school buses, more roads to be paved and plowed, higher utility costs, the despoiling of many tourist vistas, the fracturing of our rural communities, the death of our smaller business centres and an utter lack of flexibility for whatever the future may bring.

Heritage Properties

Listed Buildings, of which there are half a million in the UK (17), help to preserve the character of the country. By the same proportion, there would be 1,300 in PEI – whereas in fact there are only 27 in rural PEI (4). In the UK, listed buildings are far more attractive to buyers and command a premium price. Many are used for commercial or communal purposes; many are saved by groups of concerned locals. Government help is available to offset the increased costs of maintenance.

The devastation that we have recently witnessed to PEI’s rural churches is inexcusable. We should not allow the destruction of a historic building, often the centre of a community, without at least putting some process in place to try and find an alternate use. The few places where alternate uses have been found have enriched the local communities as well as supporting the tourism industry – after all, it is the country churches that feature so often in the tourist literature. The Churches Conservation Trust in the UK looks after 340 of England’s parish churches (7), which is 2 - 3% (9) of the total. Government and church funding is used to preserve the buildings until an alternative use can be found or, as in some cases, they are re-consecrated. Alternative uses can be education, community, arts or the provision of government services.

Conclusion

Although it would be very difficult to remove landowners’ rights, there is nothing stopping PEI from adopting many of the successful approaches taken in the UK. Compared to the UK, we are doing nothing, it is a free-for-all. Protecting our heritage and planning for sustainable development can be achieved with consensus, and in the current rapidly changing landscape we must start it right away. Buy-in from all parties is essential, as is a bit of unpopular law-making which, if done properly, will be seen in retrospect as the only solution.

About the author

Andrew has lived on PEI since 1998, after moving from the United Kingdom. Watershed Manager, rural business owner, landowner and GIS software developer, Andrew has a keen interest in planning, conservation and ecological health not only in Hunter River watershed, but across the country. Andrew runs a fund-raising campaign for four conservation trusts across Canada, and was a panellist at the Institute of Island Studies’ International Conference on Heritage and Land-use Conflicts in 2008. Andrew’s favourite saying is that ‘once you have accepted that our planet is doomed, then you can make your own little contribution towards saving it’.

References:

1. Creating Better Places To Live (The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister)

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/147600.pdf

2. Lake District National Park Authority, Core Strategy (UK Government)

http://www.lake-district.gov.uk/lake_district_docs95/core_strategy_summary.pdf

3. National Parks Facts and Figures (UK Government)

http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/learningabout/factsandfigures.htm

4. Harry Holman, Culture, Heritage and Libraries (PEI Government)

5. Planning, Building and the Environment (UK Government)

http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/about/

6. PEI National Park (Parks Canada)

http://www.pc.gc.ca/apprendre-learn/prof/sub/eco/itm5/fi-lr1/pei-ipe_E.asp