Will Labour's planning bill widen the 'green space gap'?

"The term "green space gap" was popularised by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, which has warned that access to quality green areas is becoming a matter of social inequality. Its research found that three-quarters of people in the most deprived areas of England lack access to good-quality green space, compared with far fewer in wealthier communities. These gaps aren't just cosmetic."

"Keir Starmer's government has made no secret of its desire to " build, build, build." The Planning and Infrastructure Bill aims to accelerate construction of 1.5 million homes and major national projects by cutting what ministers call "bureaucratic barriers", including environmental regulations and local challenges through judicial review. But campaigners say these same "barriers" are what protect green spaces from overdevelopment. By allowing developers to "offset" habitat destruction through payments to a central Nature Restoration"

Planning reforms intend to accelerate construction of 1.5 million homes by cutting environmental regulations and limiting local challenges through judicial review. Campaigners warn that removing these protections could accelerate the loss of local green spaces and push new developments further away from nature. Keep Britain Tidy found that three-quarters of people in the most deprived areas of England lack access to good-quality green space, compared with far fewer in wealthier communities. Proximity to nature associates with better mental health, cleaner air, stronger community ties, and higher property desirability and value. Buyers are increasingly rejecting homes built at nature's expense.

Read at Homebuilding