The battle to save London's green spaces - Telegraph

The battle to save London's green spaces - Telegraph

Debate rages about the future of our planning laws: should the Government get its way and establish a presumption in favour of sustainable development? Or does the current system of checks and balances work? The battleground has been towns, villages, and countryside: at stake is an ideal of England’s “green and pleasant land”. But what about England’s green and pleasant cities?

There is a crisis in urban planning in London: a disconnection from Nature. Hundreds of thousands of children are growing up without ever having sunk their hands in the soil. And many of their parents have never planted a bulb, or grown a vegetable. Is it the first time in human history that two generations of families have lived with such a degree of separation from earth, plants and the rhythm of the seasons?