The priority within the Countryside Protection Zone has been to maintain a local belt of countryside around Stansted Airport that will not be eroded by coalescing developments. Over the last decade there have been some notable planning applications that have been approved for significant developments within this zone. The latest to encroach on the CPZ is the decision by the Planning Inspectorate to approve permission to build 119 dwellings to the west of Parsonage Road in Takeley as well as a 66 bed care home to the east.

The Planning Inspectors have stated their severe concerns about the Local Plan and found many parts of it unsound. Given this position I am concerned that the Countryside Protection Zone will come under increasing threat from land developers.

This petition requests Uttlesford District Council to urge the Government to give greater recognition to the Countryside Protection Zone (CPZ) around Stansted Airport. This is our “green belt” equivalent and if the CPZ were recognised as such it would afford more weight in the context of the National Planning Policy Framework.