Sussex charity sets key tests for the King’s Speech

CPRE Sussex sets seven tests to help judge whether the new Government’s programme will work for the countryside.

Countryside charity CPRE Sussex has produced seven tests for the King’s Speech, which will set out the new Government’s law-making plans tomorrow (17 July).

The seven tests set out by CPRE Sussex ask if the policies set out in the speech will:

1. Deliver the housing we actually need in Sussex – genuinely affordable housing for rent for people on lower incomes, first time buyer homes and housing to attract older downsizers.
2. Create a bigger role for democratically-accountable local councils to direct where housing goes, build social housing themselves and capture the benefits of increased land values to pay for local infrastructure and services.
3. Focus housing development alongside new green jobs in the country’s less prosperous towns to ‘level up’ England’s economy and make use of brownfield sites while taking the development pressure off Sussex.
4. Focus new housing on existing towns to create ’15-minute neighbourhoods’ with shops, leisure and public services people can bus, walk, wheel or cycle to.
5. Tackle climate breakdown with a plan which includes ending airport expansion at Gatwick and reliance on fossil fuels while safeguarding nature and valued landscapes.
6. Clean up our rivers and seas, by cracking down on the causes of water company sewage spills and nature-unfriendly farming practices.
7. Accelerate protection for nature, with greater support for nature-friendly farming and more land and water safeguarded for wildlife.

Read the full press release: Press release King’s Speech July 2024