Who founded the Community Planning Alliance?: A group of local campaigners from around the UK, who met on X (Twitter), founded the alliance in March 2021.
What for?: To provide support, resources and training for grassroots campaign groups, and to lobby for change – we’re all fighting the same system, after all.
How did we start?: With a map of campaigns. Within a few months over 500 groups, from all over the United Kingdom, urban and rural, had signed up, and we continue to grow. The map is a stark indicator that all is not well with the planning system and with local and national democracy.
How are we constituted?: We are a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. (Reg. no. 13829789)
How are we funded?: We are a not-for-profit, volunteer run organisation funded entirely by donations from supporters. We do have some 'corporate costs' that we have to pay. We are therefore very appreciative of any donation.
You can donate by clicking here.
You can donate by clicking here.
What will our main focus be?:
1 - Greater opportunities for community participation.
Communities bring huge knowledge and enthusiasm. It’s time the planning system recognised that. We want the system to embrace local input, at the earliest stages;
2 - Far greater environmental protections.
The UK is already one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world and our supporters can give endless examples of how the system is failing wildlife. We need to put the environment and the climate crisis at the heart of decision-making;
3 - The right housing and infrastructure, in the right places.
We need to see an accurate national housing target (only 160,000 households a year are forming, yet targets are for 300,000) and policy that delivers genuinely affordable housing. We need transport policy to prioritise sustainable transport, not roads. Solar panels on buildings, not green field. Plus water and sewage infrastructure that does not empty our chalk streams and pollute our seas and rivers.
As part of our campaign, we will also lobby for a national land use strategy. Arguably our land has never been under so much pressure from so many angles: it is needed for growing food, for housing, for infrastructure, for renewables and biofuels, for forestry and for offsetting. The result is that our best and most versatile farmland and irreplaceable habitats, such as lowland acid grassland and peat moss, is being lost to housing, solar ‘farms’ and infrastructure. We need joined up thinking.
Want to get involved?
