CPRE Essex AGM + Talks

Oct 6, 20181 min read

Updated: Oct 15, 2018

I attended the CPRE Essex AGM, at which I gave a talk about the potential to use design as a campaign tool. The CPRE are a national group, within which are regional subgroups i.e. Essex. As a regional group campaigning to protect the rural landscape, the 'NIMBY' argument is invalid, as their 'yard' is the whole of Essex, which has a legal obligation to build homes. To that extent it is partially their responsibility to give some direction to how one may go about building homes

Within my talk, I gave a brief critique of their current method, which primarily focuses on protecting the Greenbelt and advising to build on brownfield sites. Of course, brownfield should come first, but I would argue it is rather naive to think that greenfield development is entirely preventable. From this standpoint, it is essential that we formulate greenfield development guidelines, that ensure the maximum protection of the cultural and ecological landscape and engages with the regional housing requirement. I outlined the possibility to use counter-proposed designs as campaign tools, using some of my design studies to open the conversation - which will hopefully be continued through a dedicated section in the CPRE Essex website.

As a regional campaign body, they have the capacity to support regional planners, and the individual campaign groups, which together can make successful change.