• Make National Parks more democratically accountable, allowing a proportion of the Park boards to be elected. • Create a new designation – similar to Site of Special Scientific Interest status – to protect green areas of particular importance or value to the community. We will aim to double the UK’s woodland cover by 2050. We will stop ‘garden grabbing’ by defining gardens as greenfield sites in planning law so that they cannot so easily be built over.
manage water for everyone Britain has real problems in managing its scarce water resources. Some people face devastating floods, while others have drought conditions most summers. We will: • Stop major new housing developments in major flood risk areas. • Crack down on waste from the water companies and introduce compulsory smart meters in areas of shortage. • Introduce landscape-scale planning policies with a specific remit to restore water channels, rivers and wetlands and reduce flood risk by properly utilising the natural capacity of the landscape to retain water.
a fair deal for the countryside Liberal Democrats are proud that we represent a large part of rural Britain. We believe a fair society is one where people can afford to work and live in the countryside with accessible public services. Liberal Democrats will:
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