Our response to the DNP Local Plan Consultation

This is the official SDCE response to the Dartmoor National Park Local Plan consultation, which in its current draft form puts a ban on large scale renewable development in the Park. It is imperative that this does not happen, Dartmoor has an amazing wind resource and we must able to use this to meet the UK's net-zero target and the UK's Paris Agreement obligations. We also strongly believe that action should be taken for DNP to become a leader in restoring and protective biodiversity. You are welcome to use this to inform your own response.

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1. SDCE commentary on the Final Draft Local Plan

1. It would be possible in the customary way to respond to the detail of the plan paragraph by paragraph and policy by policy.  However this would be unnecessarily repetitive and somewhat pointless as SDCE’s criticism of the plan is at a very high level and questions the fundamental principles that underpin the purpose of the plan.
2. SDCE’s approach therefore will be to set out a vision of an alternative set of development priorities that we consider to be fully aligned with addressing the global challenges we can no longer ignore, challenges that are impacting us now and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
3. The preamble entitled ‘Strategy’ effectively sets the scene for the plan with:

‘Protecting the National Park’s special qualities’
and
‘Major development will not take place in the National Park other than in exceptional circumstances.’ 

1. It is not evident that there has been any significant changes introduced between the 2006 – 2026 DNP Local Plan and the Final Draft of the proposed 2018 – 2036 Local Plan.  There is certainly no acknowledgement of either an impending Climate Emergency or Extinction Crisis in the latest draft plan.
2. The DNP Authority (DNPA) itself declared a Climate Emergency on 26 July 2019[1] and signed the Devon Climate Declaration[2] on the same day but this has not lead to any amendments to the draft plan.
3. In summary this draft plan is very much a proposal for ‘business as usual’.  It is designed to preserve the status quo.
4. However it is a plan that will provide the framework for development in the DNP for the next 18 years.  It is widely acknowledged that a continuation of business as usual for even a few years would make The Paris Agreement of limiting global heating this century to 2°C, let alone 1.5°C, almost impossible to achieve.
5. With this in mind, and after careful examination of the plan, it would be hard for anyone to conclude that a business as usual approach is fit for purpose in the current climate.

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