Your home, your voice

Planning has long been an emotive subject, but many people understand that we need more affordable housing for local people, particularly in rural areas, as well as more sustainable energy-generation projects.

However, Beautiful Britain is concerned that efforts to fast-track planning proposals will ignore the views of those who have to live with the long-term effects.

For instance, The Government’s new Infrastructure Planning Commission runs the risk of alienating local people by centralising the final decision-making on major energy, transport and waste projects in England.

And recently, the Scottish Executive gave the go-ahead to the Beauly-Denny power line project which will see huge pylons cross some of the Highlands’ most beautiful landscapes.