Politics class: Green groups lambast plan to boost housebuilding by ditching English waterway protections
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Specification:
AQA Component 3.1.2.4: Pressure groups
Edexcel Component 1.3: Pressure groups and other influences
Background: what you need to know
This is an example of how competing pressure groups try to influence government policy. Governments must decide what their priorities are. and be prepared to take criticism from the disappointed lobby group! In this case, the government has decided to relax housebuilding regulations, thus pleasing the Home Builders Federation but antagonising environmental groups.
Organisations such as Wildlife and Countryside Link have pushed for the government to retain EU-era ‘nutrient neutrality’ regulations designed to protect rivers from pollution caused by new housing.
Click the link below to read the article and then answer the questions:
Green groups lambast plan to boost housebuilding by ditching English waterway protections
Question in the style of AQA Politics Paper 1
‘Pressure groups depend for their success mainly on how far they are aligned with government policy.’ Analyse and evaluate this statement.
In your answer you should draw on material from across the whole range of your course of study in Politics. [25 marks]
Question in the style of Edexcel Politics Paper 1
Evaluate the view that the most important factor affecting the success of pressure groups is how far their aims coincide with the government’s policy agenda. [30 marks]
TIP: A positive attitude from government towards a pressure group’s agenda is not the only factor that affects its chances of success. The size of its membership and funding, media coverage of its activities and its ability to win support from the general public are other relevant factors.
Graham Goodlad, Portsmouth High School
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