Creating a Nature Recovery Network to Bring Back Wildlife to Every Neighbourhood

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Creating a Nature Recovery Network to Bring Back Wildlife to Every Neighbourhood Towards A Wilder Britain Creating a Nature Recovery Network to bring back wildlife to every neighbourhood A report for the Westminster Government by The Wildlife Trusts Nature Recovery Network We all The common lizard used to live up to its name. It could need nature do again It’s time to give it the space it needs to be part of all our lives Contents t a time when Britain stands 4 Britain in 2040 on the brink of its biggest It could be healthier, happier and greener – if we take A ever shake-up of the right decisions now environmental rules, The Wildlife Trusts are calling for a wilder, better 6 Britain in 2018 Britain. A lack of joined-up thinking has produced a raft of Most people agree that wildlife social and environmental problems and wild places are valuable for their own sake. We now know from 8 The solution: a Nature Recovery Network research across the globe that a Local networks of places that are good for wildlife, joined healthy, wildlife-rich natural world is together into a national Nature Recovery Network essential for our wellbeing and prosperity. 12 How the network can become reality But wildlife has been getting less A combination of strong new laws, nature maps and a and less common, on land and at change in our national culture to value nature once more sea, for decades. Wild places are The Wildlife Trusts more scarce, smaller and more 14 Pioneer project: the Aire Valley, Yorkshire Tel: 01636 670000 isolated. There is less nature and How a Nature Recovery Network would strengthen the local economy Email: [email protected] Website: wildlifetrusts.org greenery in the places where we @WildlifeTrusts live and work. And not everyone has 16 Pioneer project: the Irish Sea Registered Charity No 207238 equal access to nature or the The principles of a Network applied in the marine environment Contact Us benefits it brings. Dr Sue Young, Nature needs to recover – for the 17 Pioneer project: Lincolnshire’s road verges Head of Land Use Planning and Ecological Networks sake of wild plants and animals, and Six years of surveys show how verges can contribute to the Network [email protected] for everything it brings us: better Cover picture: red kite over a green- health, climate control, flood 18 Pioneer project: Kidbrooke, London roofed London, by Dan Hilliard. Pics: management, enjoyment, A nature-rich development that will build almost 5,000 houses iStock (city), David Chapman (kite), Paul Hobson (heron), Mike Read employment and more. (wigeon flocks). To make this happen, we need to 19 Support our vision This page: Common lizard by Ross change the way we look after our Help us build momentum for an Environment Act Hoddinott land and seas. We need a Nature Recovery Network to put space for nature at the heart of our farming We all want a and planning systems; to bring greener, healthier nature into the places where most 4 future... don’t we? 14 people live their daily lives. We need new laws, including an How it should be: a heron Environment Act passed by the and a human in Regent’s Westminster government, to ensure Park, London this happens. In it, local Nature Recovery Maps would be produced A Nature Recovery Network to achieve key Government targets for increasing the extent and quality is a joined-up network of habitats that allow wildlife and people to thrive: ■ in housing estates ■ on farms of natural habitats, turning nature’s Every child recovery from an aspiration to a ■ ■ ■ Volunteers in nature reserves on road verges along riverbanks deserves a wild making ecological reality. Local Authorities would have ■ in parks and gardens ■ on office roofs ■ in the hills childhood 8 maps of verges LONDON WILDLIFE TRUST LONDON MARK SCHOFIELD NIK POLLARD TERRY WHITTAKER/2020VISION TERRY a requirement to do this. 2 THE WILDLIFE TRUSTS THE WILDLIFE TRUSTS 3 The UK’s Nature Recovery A recovering landscape Network 1 Nature is normal 4 Buzzing creatures which used Britain in 2040 Children grow up with countryside to be common around trees to climb, ponds Farmland is the coasts are to investigate and crisscrossed by increasing. Green, healthy, happy fields to explore. They colourful habitat for its don’t know it, but their most important wild 7 Fertile soils childhood is better residents: pollinators. The most productive A world where seeing a hedgehog is an everyday experience than their parents’. land is renewing itself. 5 Sustainable Nutrients are staying f you could travel forward in walls. Housing estates now come or ponds, or thick hedges. There are 2 Green fisheries put in soils that are time, and visit your home with green arteries, many of them more hedgehogs, swallows and developments After two decades of accumulating rather I town two decades from incorporating old hedgerows and housemartins, and a lot more insects. For 20 years all new protection the UK’s than eroding and today, the last thing you’d expect is trees. Farm fields have colourful Finally, you realise what it is. The housing and other seas have regained blowing away. that people would feel sorry for you. wildflower strips running alongside, people. They simply look healthier development has much of their former It might be hard to work out why and happier, more willing to talk. resulted in a net gain bounty. All fishing is 8 Restored uplands at first. Of course, there are little There’s less stress and anxiety than for wildlife. sustainable and jobs Instead of just close- 8 differences, but each one doesn’t Housing estates there used to be. Children especially are secure. grazed grasslands, the seem that strange on its own. The air seem to understand that the natural 3 Wilder cities trees and peat bogs is cleaner, and the hubbub of vehicle now come with world is the foundation of our Green roofs, green 6 Returning whales are back, reducing noise has almost vanished from the green arteries: wellbeing and prosperity; that we walls, pocket parks Sightings of whales flooding and locking streets. Nearly all buildings seem to depend on it, and it depends on us. and trees are common. and other large sea up CO2 from the air. NIK POLLARD have green roofs, or even green hedges, trees Which is, after all, how it is. 5 6 3 7 2 1 4 4 THE WILDLIFE TRUSTS THE WILDLIFE TRUSTS 5 The UK’s Nature Recovery Britain in 2018 Network Depleted, fragmented, fragile We have torn great holes in the web of life that supports us he UK today is a human- problem in Europe. Air quality limits Sir John Lawton, who led a dominated landscape. Most are regularly breached. Floods are Government review of England’s T original habitats have gone, becoming more common and more wildlife sites, said: “There is and natural ecosystems are destructive. Damage to farmland compelling evidence that they are fragmented. Woods, meadows, soils costs us around £1bn a year. generally too small and too isolated. ponds and other places with lots of For most of us, our material We need more space for nature.” wild plants and animals are getting standard of living is still improving. Conservation work by charities, smaller, fewer, more polluted, and But our lifestyles are unsustainable farmers, community groups and more cut-off from each other. Most and overlook the value of natural individuals shows that wildlife can be Flooding in York, of our plants and animals are systems – even though they brought back when the will and the 2015: Research shows declining. One in ten face extinction. underpin everything we do. We space is there. Previous generations that having more Given the pressure on land for need healthy soil to grow food in, lived with clouds of butterflies, vegetation and trees food, roads and housing, this is not clean air to breathe, clean water to snowstorms of moths, and hedges in the hills can help to surprising. However, our separation drink, and green space for exercise shaking with dense flocks of keep floodwater out of from nature has led to other and relaxation. No one disputes this farmland birds. These are biological IMAGES ANNA GOWTHORPE/PA homes and businesses unintended effects. – yet our farming and planning riches denied to younger people. We have an epidemic of chronic systems have often taken us in the We need to decide what kind of disease, and the worst obesity opposite direction. future we want – wilder, or not? Map of UK Biodiversity Intactness Askham Bog: a familiar tale Tim Newbold; Lawrence N People vs nature: the disconnect Hudson; Andrew P Arnell; Nothing left Sara Contu et al. (2016). to lose? Dataset: Global map of the Biodiversity Intactness Index, This map shows from Newbold et al. (2016) Science. Natural History estimates of Museum Data Portal (data. ‘biodiversity nhm.ac.uk). https://doi. intactness’ across org/10.5519/0009936 Proposed housing the UK. The UK index of 81% is 29th lowest out of 218 Golf course countries assessed. Askham Bog Researchers suggest such biodiversity Ex-landfill Roads Pollution Housing loss might 250,000 miles of tarmac Plastics, pesticides and Every year 36 square miles exceed ‘planetary divide our landscape. To atmospheric pollution are of new developments put boundaries’. A64 trunk road many species they causing problems for pressure on local GOOGLE MAPS are a barrier wildlife ecosystems STEPHEN POWLES STEPHEN TERRY WHITTAKER TERRY MATTHEW ROBERTS MATTHEW Key Golf course Percentage of originally-present An ancient bog on the outskirts of species York, Askham was one of The Wildlife Trusts’ first nature reserves. It is a less than 50% unique place, thousands of years old, and teeming with specialised less than 60% wildlife.
Recommended publications
  • Let Nature Help 2020 Warwickshire
    Let nature How nature’s recovery is essentialhelp for tackling the climate crisis Let nature help PA Wire/PA Images GettyGetes Images Julie Hatcher Peter Cairns/2020Vision The time is now Contents To deal with the climate crisis, we must bring nature back on an ambitious scale 4 Nature-based solutions The natural systems that lock carbon away safely he world is starting to take Rapid cuts in our emissions must We must act now and we must note of the threat of climate be matched with determined action get this right. According to the 6 What nature can do T “Emission cuts must The multiple benefits of giving nature a chance catastrophe. In response, the be matched with to fix our broken ecosystems, Intergovernmental Panel UK government has joined many so they can help stabilise our climate. on Climate Change (IPCC), 8 Case study 1 governments around the world in action to fix our We must bring nature back across at decisions we take in the Beaver reintroduction, Argyll setting a net zero emissions target in broken ecosystems, so least 30% of land and sea by 2030. next 10 years are crucial for law. they can help Restoring wild places will also avoiding total climate 9 Case study 2 The Great Fen Project, Cambridgeshire Yet we cannot tackle the climate stabilise our climate.” revive the natural richness we all catastrophe. We must crisis without similar ambition to depend upon, making our lives kickstart nature’s recovery 10 Case study 3 meet the nature crisis head on – the happier and healthier.
    [Show full text]
  • Yorkshire's Hidden Vale Area
    YORKSHIRE’S HIDDEN VALE The roles of the River Derwent and the River Hertford in Landscape Action for the Eastern Vale of Pickering A report by Bowles Green Ltd and The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust With generous support from LEADER Coast, Wolds, Wetlands and Waterways (CWWW) through the East Riding and North Yorkshire Waterways Partnership; The Rural Development Programme for England/LEADER East Riding of Yorkshire 1 Acknowledgements This report would not have been possible without the generous grant from LEADER Coast, Wolds, Wetlands and Waterways (CWWW) via the East Riding and North Yorkshire Waterways Partnership. The authors would also like to thank Harriet Linfoot for her hard work in the local communities, gathering the essential information which shaped this report. Over 200 people provided responses to face to face questions or the on-line survey. Their honest engagement made this report possible and worthwhile. A large number of people commented on the draft of this report and others unselfishly allowed their works and writings to be used or quoted. To all these people, our grateful thanks. Cover photograph Flixton Brow view from the top of the escarpment across the Valley ©Tim Burkinshaw Senior Authors Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Kevin Bayes Harriet Linfoot Bowles Green Steven Green Judith Bowles 2 Contents page 1.0 Summary 5 2.0 Introduction to the document 7 3.0 Introduction to Yorkshire’s Hidden Vale 8 4.0 Background documents on Landscape and Significance 9 5.0 Programme Area 10 6.0 The Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Programme
    [Show full text]
  • The Direct and Indirect Contribution Made by the Wildlife Trusts to the Health and Wellbeing of Local People
    An independent assessment for The Wildlife Trusts: by the University of Essex The direct and indirect contribution made by The Wildlife Trusts to the health and wellbeing of local people Protecting Wildlife for the Future Dr Carly Wood, Dr Mike Rogerson*, Dr Rachel Bragg, Dr Jo Barton and Professor Jules Pretty School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex Acknowledgments The authors are very grateful for the help and support given by The Wildlife Trusts staff, notably Nigel Doar, Cally Keetley and William George. All photos are courtesy of various Wildlife Trusts and are credited accordingly. Front Cover Photo credits: © Matthew Roberts Back Cover Photo credits: Small Copper Butterfly © Bob Coyle. * Correspondence contact: Mike Rogerson, Research Officer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ. [email protected] The direct and indirect contribution made by individual Wildlife Trusts on the health and wellbeing of local people Report for The Wildlife Trusts Carly Wood, Mike Rogerson*, Rachel Bragg, Jo Barton, Jules Pretty Contents Executive Summary 5 1. Introduction 8 1.1 Background to research 8 1.2 The role of the Wildlife Trusts in promoting health and wellbeing 8 1.3 The role of the Green Exercise Research Team 9 1.4 The impact of nature on health and wellbeing 10 1.5 Nature-based activities for the general public and Green Care interventions for vulnerable people 11 1.6 Aim and objectives of this research 14 1.7 Content and structure of this report 15 2. Methodology 16 2.1 Survey of current nature-based activities run by individual Wildlife Trusts and Wildlife Trusts’ perceptions of evaluating health and wellbeing.
    [Show full text]
  • Wildberkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire
    Winter 2020 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire Wild & Oxfordshire FARMING FOR WILDLIFE The truly green revolution poised to speed nature’s recovery WHAT’S IN A NAME? The magical relationship between language and nature WINTER WILDLIFE Heroic hedges Discover the wildlife that thrives in our hedgerows Farming and wildlife HAMBLIN/2020VISION MARK Welcome 10 They are compatible! Your wild winter Ready for nature’s recovery The best of the season’s wildlife and The pandemic continues, but with talk of a ‘green where to enjoy it on your local patch recovery’ there could yet be a silver lining that puts people and the environment first. These are unprecedented times and with the RIC MELLIS RIC Agriculture and Environment Bills currently making their way back through Parliament, nature’s recovery now rests in the hands 3 Wintertime wonders of politicians. We have been fighting hard alongside other Wildlife Trusts Wildlife wows this winter to ensure that the bold promises made on securing a future for wildlife come to fruition. We continue to lobby for the best possible outcome. Thank you The Agriculture Bill could transform our countryside. BBOWT will We achieve more by working facilitate this truly green revolution at the local level, offering the as one. Your membership helps expertise and vision for a landscape rich in wildlife, for all to enjoy. In fact, fund vital conservation and we’ve already started and this autumn launched our new Land Advice campaign work that protects vulnerable birds. Discover what Service to help farmers and landowners manage their land in a more else we are achieving together nature-minded way.
    [Show full text]
  • Spaces Wild, London Wildlife Trust
    SPACES WILD championing the values of London’s wildlife sites Protecting London’s wildlife for the future Foreword London is a remarkably green city supporting a wide diversity of habitats and species. Almost half of its area is blue and green space, and almost a fifth – covering over 1,500 different sites - is of sufficient value to biodiversity to be identified worthy of protection. These wildlife sites consist of much more than nature reserves, ranging from wetlands to chalk downs that are often valued by the local community for uses other than habitat. They have been established for almost 30 years, and as a network they provide the foundations for the conservation and enhancement of London’s wildlife, and the opportunity for people to experience the diversity of the city’s nature close to hand. They are a fantastic asset, but awareness of wildlife sites – the Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) – is low amongst the public (compared to, say, the Green Belt). There is understandable confusion between statutory wildlife sites and those identified through London’s planning process. In addition the reasons why SINCs have been identified SINCs cover 19.3% of the are often difficult to find out. With London set to grow to 10 million people by 2030 the pressures on our wildlife Greater London area sites will become profound. I have heard of local authorities being forced to choose between saving a local park and building a school. Accommodating our growth without causing a decline in the quality of our natural assets will be challenging; we have a target to build an estimated 42,000 homes a year in the capital merely to keep up with demand.
    [Show full text]
  • Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31St March 2020
    Company no 1600379 Charity no 283895 LONDON WILDLIFE TRUST (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31st March 2020 CONTENTS Pages Trustees’ Report 2-9 Reference and Administrative Details 10 Independent Auditor's Report 11-13 Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 14 Consolidated and Charity Balance sheets 15 Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 16 Notes to the accounts 17-32 1 London Wildlife Trust Trustees’ report For the year ended 31st March 2020 The Board of Trustees of London Wildlife Trust present their report together with the audited accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020. The Board have adopted the provisions of the Charities SORP (FRS 102) – Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (effective 1 January 2015) in preparing the annual report and financial statements of the charity. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006. Our objectives London Wildlife Trust Limited is required by charity and company law to act within the objects of its Articles of Association, which are as follows: 1. To promote the conservation, creation, maintenance and study for the benefit of the public of places and objects of biological, geological, archaeological or other scientific interest or of natural beauty in Greater London and elsewhere and to promote biodiversity throughout Greater London. 2. To promote the education of the public and in particular young people in the principles and practice of conservation of flora and fauna, the principles of sustainability and the appreciation of natural beauty particularly in urban areas.
    [Show full text]
  • The Woodlander
    Autumn at Sydenham Hill Wood (DG) In this issue: Open Day blockbuster Volunteers clean up mess Wildlife sightings The Crystal Palace High Level railway And winter bird walk Contact: [email protected] 0207 252 9186 Twitter Facebook Protecting London’s wildlife for the future Registered Charity Number: 283895 Follow London Wildlife Trust on Twitter and Facebook Sydenham Hill Wood News Volunteers clean up after double arson attack After suffering a double arson attack on our fencing storage at Sydenham Hill Wood in August, it was left to volunteers from the local community to clean up the debris and piles of charcoal. It is not unusual to have to deal with minor incidents of vandalism and attempts to damage fencing, sometimes with fire, but this was nd different. The first arson attack took place on Saturday 2 August and the second on the following Monday. The fire brigade was called in to put out both fires. Thank you to the London Fire Service for all their work in doing so. One of the main concerns, apart from damage to property and equipment was the protection of bats which use the tunnel to roost and hibernate. We know that bats swarm in the tunnel in summer but they are unlikely to have been harmed as the tunnel has another point of exit for bats on the southern, Lewisham end. In September Southwark Council covered the damaged façade with steel sheeting to stop anyone gaining unlawful access to the tunnel in future. The tunnel was built in the 1860s as part of the Crystal Palace High Level railway but closed in 1954.
    [Show full text]
  • The Status of England's Local Wildlife Sites 2018
    The status of England’s Local Wildlife Sites 2018 Report of results Protecting Wildlife for the Future Northumberland LWS, Naomi Waite Status of Local Wildlife Site Systems 2017 The Wildlife Trusts believe that people are part of nature; everything we value ultimately comes from it and everything we do has an impact on it. Our mission is to bring about living landscapes, living seas and a society where nature matters. The Wildlife Trusts is a grassroots movement of people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, who believe that we need nature and nature needs us. We have more than 800,000 members, 40,000 volunteers, 2,000 staff and 600 trustees. For more than a century we have been saving wildlife and wild places, increasing people’s awareness and understanding of the natural world, and deepening people’s relationship with it. We work on land and sea, from mountain tops to the seabed, from hidden valleys and coves to city streets. Wherever you are, Wildlife Trust people, places and projects are never far away, improving life for wildlife and people together, within communities of which we are a part. We look after more than 2,300 nature reserves, covering 98,500 hectares, and operate more than 100 visitor and education centres in every part of the UK, on Alderney and the Isle of Man. Acknowledgements We wish to extend our thanks to everyone who took the time to complete a questionnaire. Thank you also to Gertruda Stangvilaite, for helping to coordinate the survey during her time volunteering with The Wildlife Trusts.
    [Show full text]
  • Transcript Mathew Frith London Wildlife Trust Thank
    Planning Committee THE GREEN BELT OF THE FUTURE SEMINAR Mathew Frith London Wildlife Trust Thank you, Barbara [Young]. I am not either a landscape architect or a planner. I want you to imagine the song of a skylark in this room. It would be interesting to know how many have actually heard a skylark in the last six months or so, but therein lies an issue. I would say they are an iconic species of our green belt. This is Hutchinson’s Bank [local nature reserve and Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation] in south Croydon, in New Addington, it is a site that we have been managing for 30 years. I am going to upset our chair by now saying that we have actually spent a huge amount of time over those 30 years removing a lot of trees, damaging the critically-important chalk grassland, one of the most globally-threatened habitats that we have in this country. However, the issue here is that the community that live in New Addington, on the left there, are surrounded by green belt but I reckon that very few actually can access it because most of it is closed to them. It is agricultural land, it is horsiculture, it is a landfill and we are the one site that is closest to them that we maintain as open land. It is one of a number of sites that contain a huge range of biodiversity that is characteristic of the green belt, but, as we have heard already today, the architects of the green belt did not foresee the impacts of industrial agriculture, they did not see the future impacts of social change and this biodiversity, as we now know, in many ways is under threat.
    [Show full text]
  • Let Nature Help
    Let nature How nature’s recovery is essentialhelp for tackling the climate crisis Let nature help PA Wire/PA Images Getty Images Julie Hatcher Peter Cairns/2020Vision The time is now Contents To deal with the climate crisis, we must bring nature back on an ambitious scale 4 Nature-based solutions The natural systems that lock carbon away safely he world is starting to take Rapid cuts in our emissions must We must act now and we note of the threat of climate “Emission cuts be matched with determined action must get this right. According 6 What nature can do T catastrophe. In response, to fix our broken ecosystems, so to the Intergovernmental Panel The multiple benefits of giving nature a chance the UK government has joined must be matched they can help stabilise our climate. on Climate Change (IPCC), with action to fix 8 Case study 1 many governments around the We must bring nature back across decisions we take in the next Beaver reintroduction, Argyll world in setting a net zero our broken at least 30% of land and sea by 10 years are crucial for emissions target in law. ecosystems, so they 2030. Restoring wild places will avoiding total climate 9 Case study 2 The Great Fen Project, Cambridgeshire Yet we cannot tackle the climate can help stabilise also revive the natural richness we catastrophe. We must crisis without similar ambition to our climate.” all depend upon, making our lives kickstart nature’s recovery 10 Case study 3 meet the nature crisis head on – the happier and healthier.
    [Show full text]
  • The London Plan Habitat Targets a Review of Progress and Forward Recommendations March 2017
    The London Plan Habitat Targets a review of progress and forward recommendations March 2017 New reedbeds at Woodberry Wetlands, Manor House © Don Lewis Report authors Michael Waller Grad CIEEM (LWT) Mathew Frith MCIEEM (LWT) Chloe Smith (GiGL) Andy Foy (GiGL) This page is deliberately left blank London Plan habitat targets review March 2017 Contents 1. Executive summary .................................................................................................................. 4 2. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 7 3. Biodiversity action planning context ......................................................................................... 8 3.1 London Plan target origins ................................................................................................ 8 3.2 Policy context ................................................................................................................... 8 4. Review methodology .............................................................................................................. 12 4.1 Overview of data sources ............................................................................................... 12 4.1.1 Data source strengths and weaknesses .................................................................. 12 4.2 Collating available datasets to estimate the current habitat extents ................................ 13 5. Review of habitat targets.......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • PDU Case Report XXXX/YY Date
    planning report PDU/2857/02 2 October 2012 Land at Colonial Drive, Bollo Lane, Chiswick Park in the London Borough of Ealing planning application no. P/2012/0338 Strategic planning application stage II referral (new powers) Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended); Greater London Authority Acts 1999 and 2007; Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008 The proposal Demolition of the existing warehouses and the erection of a mixed-use development of up to eight storeys comprising 124 residential units (33 x affordable and 91 market units), 589sq.m of office space (Use Class B1) and a 478 sq.m. childcare facility (Use Class D1). The provision of 12 disabled car parking spaces and four integral cycle stores. Provision of footpath on North boundary to link Bollo Lane to Chiswick Business Park, associated public realm, landscaping and toddler play space. The applicant The applicant is Blackstone Ltd. and the architect is BFLS. Strategic issues The Mayor previously raised issues relating to housing, children’s playspace, design, inclusive design, climate change, biodiversity, noise air quality and transport. These matters have now been satisfactorily resolved and the proposed application is acceptable in strategic planning policy terms. The Council’s decision In this instance Ealing Council has resolved to grant permission, subject to the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under Section 106. Recommendation That Ealing Council be advised that the Mayor is content for it to determine the case itself, subject to any action that the Secretary of State may take, and does not therefore wish to direct refusal or direct that he is to be the local planning authority.
    [Show full text]