Sujet 2 - Partie 2 · Bac Anglais, monde contemporain Métropole 2022

Document A

National Geographic, August 2019

1 sprawl: the spread of a city into the area surrounding it, often without planning

Document B

Developers could be forced to provide all future homes with green space under plan being considered by London mayor

A radical overhaul 1 of planning rules that would make green space as vital as access to water or energy is being considered by London's mayor.

Sadiq Khan 2 has signalled he will support the scheme to make it easier for all residents of the capital to enjoy areas away from buildings and traffic if he secures a second term in City Hall.

A fifth of London is more than a kilometre from areas of nature, despite the fact that green space accounts for nearly half of the city (47 per cent), according to a report by the Fabian Society 3, which will be published on Friday.

It says that future developments should guarantee that every resident is no more than 1,000m away from a patch of land that is not covered in concrete or tarmac.

The mayor of London has thrown his weight behind the initiative, which calls for housing estates with poor access to nature to be flagged for future enhancements in recommendations outlined by wildlife activist David Lindo.

Mr Lindo, an urban ornithologist, wrote of how he felt shut out of nature as a young black man growing up in inner-city London in the 1970s.

He said: “It was often about saving spaces in leafier areas, rather than improving the run-down spaces of inner urban neighbourhoods.”

“Camley Street Natural Park in run-down King's Cross, saved in 1982 and then re-imagined as a wildlife oasis, was one of the exceptions, but I never felt that addressing the environmental injustices of communities living in poorer, rougher, more polluted neighbourhoods were fully embedded in much of this work.” […]

Mr Lindo added: “We need to be less protective, bolder and braver to reimagine how London should look and sound. We must be ‘greener’ rather than ‘greyer’.”

Speaking ahead of publication, Mr Khan said: “Access to nature should be available to all Londoners regardless of wealth or background.”

www.independent.co.uk, 6 August 2019

1 overhaul: re-examination

2 Sadiq Khan: mayor of London

3 Fabian Society: British left-leaning think-tank and pressure group which focuses on public policy

Document C

‘Dramatic’ increase in threat to London's green belt, report warns

There has been a “dramatic” increase in threats to London's green belt land from developers who only plan to use a fraction of the land for affordable housing, according to a new report.

Research by the London Green Belt Council (LGBC), an alliance of 100 organisations, shows five out of every six local authorities are planning to build on the supposedly protected land.

In all, 202,700 new dwellings 1 have been proposed for the land, a 64 per cent increase on two years ago, which researchers said posed the “greatest ever threat” to the green girdle 2 around the capital.

The report also claims that local planning authorities are being given no option but to release green belt land for development due to pressure from central government – despite it only being likely to provide less than 10 per cent of the affordable housing needed.

Researchers said that, contrary to claims by developers, building in the green belt did “virtually nothing” to address the crisis of affordability of housing, especially for young people in the South East.

Last year the government issued an updated national planning policy framework, rejecting calls for a complete ban on building in the 14 green belt areas across England – originally designed to protect the countryside from urban sprawl.

Richard Knox-Johnston, chair of the London Green Belt Council (LGBC), said the government must take action “more urgently than ever” to avoid “irreparable damage” to the integrity of London's protected land. […]

It comes after an analysis by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) last year indicated that plans to free up green belt land for housing development would do little to ease the affordability crisis.

The findings revealed that only 22 per cent of the 460,000 homes planned on land released from the green belt would meet the government's definition of affordable, prompting concerns that people were being “sold a lie” by developers.

www.independent.co.uk, 28 January 2019

1 dwellings: places of residence

2 girdle: (here) belt

Document D

Planning a Greener Future: How WATG’s ‘Green Block’ can help make London the world’s first National Park City

Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Go, www.watg.com (architectural firm), 10 October 2017

Partie 2 (4 pts)

Traduisez en français le passage ci-dessous du document B (l. 1-7):

A radical overhaul of planning rules that would make green space as vital as access to water or energy is being considered by London's mayor.

Sadiq Khan has signalled he will support the scheme to make it easier for all residents of the capital to enjoy areas away from buildings and traffic if he secures a second term in City Hall.

A fifth of London is more than a kilometre from areas of nature, despite the fact that green space accounts for nearly half of the city (47 per cent).