Charity calls on May's election candidates to help tackle five big threats to Sussex countryside

A countryside charity has called on May’s local election candidates to tackle five big threats to Sussex countryside and communities.

CPRE Sussex has published its 2023 election ‘manifesto’, setting out how local candidates can pledge to support a greener future for Sussex.

The charity is calling on candidates in May’s elections to tackle five threats to our countryside and communities.

They include local people being priced out of housing, climate breakdown, excessive development and intensive farming, lack of access to nature, and pollution.

CPRE Sussex director Paul Steedman said: “The next few years will be critical to ensure we provide the new homes and infrastructure we desperately need, while addressing the energy, nature and climate emergencies.“Excitingly, there are some simple commitments candidates can make to address these issues without coming at the expense of our beautiful living landscape.”CPRE Sussex is asking candidates to:

Provide local, affordable brownfield homes by bringing forward all possible brownfield sites for development. There are currently 700 brownfield sites across East and West Sussex which could be used to build more than 23,500 homes.

Tackle the climate breakdown by leading a Rooftop Renewables Revolution, prioritising sustainable travel and embedding climate change considerations in all policy making.

Fight excessive and damaging development and intensive farming by ensuring new developments take account of water use and encouraging nature-friendly development and farming practices.

Make nature accessible to everyone by planting new urban trees and woodland, ensuring everyone is within a 15-minute walk of a nature-rich green space and expanding the ‘right to roam’ on council-owned land.

Stop pollution of our water, air and land by campaigning against the discharge of raw sewage into our rivers and seas, addressing air and light pollution and supporting action to reduce the run-off of agricultural pollutants.

Read the full ‘manifesto’ and download template letters to send to your local candidate at cpresussex.org.uk/news/cpre-sussex-manifesto-for-the-2023-local-elections