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Climate change: Is the Government finally putting it to the top of the planning agenda?
19 January 2009
As long ago as the ‘UK climate change programme’ was published
by DEFRA in November 2000, the government has been making noises
about the importance of the planning system in controlling climate
change on a global level. In many local authorities the issue of
climate change has not been at the forefront of the decision making
process for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). There are of course
exceptions to this rule which mainly occur in London, where the
London Plan requires developments to reduce carbon emissions by
20%, providing this is feasible. Where this is not replicated in
other local authorities is, in part, because most do not have a
similar policy requiring that development must reduce carbon
emissions. Without this in place, a local planning authority is
unable to refuse planning permission on this basis.
Those noises have recently been increasing in volume and it is
now coming to the point where climate change is an important
consideration in the determination of any planning application.
The 2000 UK climate change programme was reviewed in 2004 with
the subsequent revised programme being published in March 2006. In
it, the government recognised that the location, design,
construction and siting of built development can affect the level
of greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, they undertook to prepare
a new Planning Policy Statement (PPS) dealing with climate change.
Such a step would provide a material consideration in the
determination of any planning applications.
Following the publication of the Climate Change Bill in March
2007 and the Planning and Energy White papers in May 2007, DCLG
published a PPS on Planning and Climate Change in December 2007. It
is this document which has prompted real changes to the
determination of planning applications and the impact those
considerations of climate change has on this process.
A year on from this publication; what have we
learnt?
- LPAs are now on far stronger grounds to refuse planning
permission for development where the location and design are
considered to be unsustainable and would increase carbon emissions
unacceptably
- In preparing development plan documents, LPAs must give
consideration to climate change issues, which means future policies
and development allocations will be considered in light of the PPS.
In particular, sites will generally be allocated only when they are
readily accessible by means other than private means of transport;
there is capacity within the existing or potential infrastructure;
there are not physical and environmental constraints to
development; and where consideration has been given to whether
development may provide for green infrastructure such as
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) and enhancement of
bio-diversity. Similarly, applications for planning permission will
be considered against these criteria
- The government wants LPAs to look favourably on plans for
decentralised and renewable energy resources within developments.
This has been followed through with additional permitted
development rights for such development
- New development should be planned to minimise future
vulnerability to climate change. This has meant that the
Environment Agency has been far tougher on development proposals
within flood zone 3. As an example, in the Examination in Public
for the Revised RSS8, the panel recommended that a precautionary
approach should be employed for new development within the coastal
flood zones. Similar approaches are also regularly taken on
individual development sites.
- Sustainability appraisals are now an integral part in the
development of planning policy. They are also increasingly asked
for in consideration of individual developments, but it is
important that these are only requested where it is proportionate
to the size of the development.
The PPS also allows Local Planning Authorities to introduce
planning policy which requires for a percentage of any new
development’s energy to be secured via decentralised and renewable
energy sources.
Planning and Energy Act 2008
Subsequently, the Planning and Energy Act 2008 was given Royal
Assent on 13th November 2008, and there is now a statutory
provision which allows a LPA to have policies within their Local
Development Documents on the same terms as provided for by the PPS.
Furthermore, it also allows for development plan policies to
require that developments comply with energy efficiency
standards.
The Merton Rule
Policies of this type were first rolled out through the London
Plan, most notably in the London Borough of Merton who famously
pioneered the ‘Merton Rule’. This requires that in all major new
developments, renewable energy sources will be used to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions by 10% per annum. It is even more
interesting to note that ‘major development’ is any development
with 10 or more dwellings, or where there is more than 1,000 square
metres of floor space.
The Merton Rule has been taken on by other LPAs, such as the
London Borough of Croydon and North Devon District Council. It is
likely with the developing government agenda on this matter, that
more and more Councils will also follow suit.
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