Mind the gap: the UK's new planning system, landscape conservation and biodiversity.

Maintaining biodiversity and natural habitat are essential to achieving sustainable development. The UK's Planning Policy Statement on 'Biodiversity and Geological Conservation' (known as PPS 9) and the 'South East Plan' emphasise the need to avoid a net loss in biodiversity, with Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) enjoined to pursue ecologically sensitive options. Our research revealed serious problems hampering the local planning authorities' efforts to incorporate whole-landscape scale planning into Local Development Frameworks (LDFs). These are required under the new 'Spatial Planning' framework, enacted in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and the Planning Act 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]