Dedham Vale is a lowland English landscape on the border of Essex and Suffolk, which hosts precious traditional grasslands, ancient woodlands, valuable archaeology, priority species such as hazel dormice and hedgehogs, and many associations with historic artists. The train operator Greater Anglia built an extension to the Manningtree station car park to cope with increased traffic, after it was assessed not to have significant environmental effects.

However, that original decision was challenged by the Dedham Vale Society, with the support of Campaign for National Parks, on the basis it fails to apply s.85 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which says that relevant authorities (the Secretary of State in this case) must seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the area. The Secretary of State has accepted that the failure to apply the statutory duty to seek to further the purposes of the National Landscape constitutes an error of law, and that the outcome might have been different had it been applied.

We at National Landscapes Association want to champion the best development decisions for the long term. The reason Parliament created the Protected Landscapes duty was to ensure public and statutory organisations take seriously their role in conserving and enhancing the UK’s most outstandingly beautiful places for the nation, for the future. We have been advocating for a strong application of the new duty in our three priorities to deliver for the nation. We therefore welcome this decision by the Secretary of State to treat the duty as substantial in law as it will pave the way for an active consideration of natural beauty in other decisions. We’d also like to see the cross-cutting benefits of the duty realised in future planning decisions.

More on the Protected Landscapes duty and the Manningtree case: