see also: Subscription form
and: Quotations from Chapter 7 of Agenda 21
Who are we?
Chapter 7 is a UK organization which campaigns to provide access to land for all households through environmentally sound planning.
Chapter 7 lobbies for:
- Firmer guidance on what distinguishes a sustainable development from an unsustainable one;
- Policies which permit low impact and sustainable developments and/or exclude unsustainable developments.
- Alternatives to the proliferation of car-based urban sprawl
- The safeguarding of some urban land for sustainable low-profit use, including affordable housing, workshop space and yards, markets, independent shops, public transport facilities, allotments, community projects and gardens.
- Planning policies and procedures which cater for the special needs of self-built homes and workplaces and the community provision of facilities.
- Strengthening the public’s right to appeal against major development proposals.
- Bringing major agricutural activities within the planning system.
Chapter 7 will press for these measures, by publishing reports and newsletters; responding to Government consultation papers; liaising with the media; lobbying decision-makers and local councils; providing a planning consultancy service for low impact developments; and publicizing and supporting appropriate direct action.
Our first major project was the report ‘Defining Rural Sustainability: 15 Criteria for Sustainable Developments in the Countryside together with Three Model Policies for Local Plans’, published in February 1998. A subsequent project will be a briefing pack explaining how members of the public can influence the development plan process in their area
If you would like to support the work of Chapter 7 and be kept informed of its activities, you are invited to join our mailing list, by filling in the subscription form . You will be sent at least three newsletters a year plus occasional information about relevant events and campaigns taking place in in your region. Chapter 7 will be happy to network and publicize information you send us about developments in your area.
Chapter 7 can also help individuals and groups who are trying to gain planning permission to fill in their planning applications, submit appraisals, and fight appeals. Call our office on Thursdays for