How the Chancellor’s ‘mini-Budget’ missed the mark on transport and housing
Friday 31 July 2020
CPRE, the countryside charity, has said that Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s ‘mini-Budget’ missed the mark on transport and housing. The Chancellor had been aiming to revive the economy through his A Plan for Jobs mini-Budget, announced earlier this month, but Tom Fyans, CPRE campaigns and policy director, said: “While we have seen promising starts on energy […] Read more >
You only have until August 14 to respond to Lower Thames Crossing design consultation
Wednesday 29 July 2020
This is a reminder that Highways England is consulting on further revisions to the design of the Lower Thames Crossing. If you want to take part, you need to be quick as the consultation closes on Wednesday, August 12. We can comment on the proposed refinements, which include: Minor refinements to elements of the […] Read more >
Government responds to CPRE Essex letter on Landscape Review
Tuesday 28 July 2020
The final report of the much-anticipated Landscape Review, published in September 2019, concluded more than a year’s analysis of whether protections for England’s National Parks and AONBs were still fit for purpose. The government had ordered the review in May 2018, asking “in particular, what might be done better, what changes will help and whether […] Read more >
Too-Goods, Long Richards and Bullocks’ Valley
Monday 27 July 2020
Writer Anne Boileau wrote this delightful piece about ever-changing times in the tiny village of Colne Engaine on the Essex-Suffolk border. “I thought it might get people comparing their own villages and field names,” says Anne. The people who lived in the village of Colne Engaine more than 100 years ago have left us no photographs […] Read more >
CPRE slates government’s proposals for planning deregulation
Tuesday 14 July 2020
The government’s proposed planning reforms could amount to “the exact opposite of building back better”, CPRE believes. Downing Street says its proposals are “the most radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War”. Amended planning rules, due to be in place by September, would permit: Developers to “demolish and rebuild” vacant and […] Read more >
Essex benefits from first AONB extension in 29 years
Monday 13 July 2020
The Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is to be expanded – partly into Essex. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced last week (Tuesday, July 7) that the AONB, which covered 401 square kilometres from Kessingland to Harwich, and inland to the edge of Ipswich, was to grow […] Read more >
CPRE Essex gives £500 towards Bocking Windmill painting and cleaning
Tuesday 7 July 2020
CPRE Essex has donated £500 towards the maintenance of Bocking Windmill. The money, from the countryside charity’s Mill Fund, has been given to the Friends of Bocking Windmill to help cover the cost of painting and cleaning. The striking postmill with its two-storey roundhouse, owned by Braintree District Council and run by the Friends, has […] Read more >
Marking time in Coggeshall
Friday 3 July 2020
The Covid-19 lockdown is, it would appear, easing before presumably coming to an end. It has unquestionably been a difficult time – tragically so for many – but there has been light amid the gloom. In this delightful essay, writer Anne Boileau reflects on what lockdown taught us and is thankful for the good people… […] Read more >
Lower Thames Crossing: rallying call to take part in next phase of consultation
Friday 3 July 2020
The next phase of consultation on the proposed Lower Thames Crossing begins this month. Highways England is launching the four-week consultation on proposed design refinements to the planned road on Tuesday, July 14. It comes after 2018’s statutory consultation in 2018 and the supplementary consultation, which was completed this year. From July 14, we will […] Read more >
Our Lovely Essex: it’s time to draw the feature to a close and remember those we have lost to the pandemic
Thursday 2 July 2020
Back in April, in response to the Covid-19 lockdown, we asked the people of our extraordinary county to send us images and thoughts of what made Essex so special to them. The idea was to dream and share memories of happier times that we knew would ultimately return once that troubled period came to an […] Read more >