Legal
Greening the planners
The government aims to bring the planning system into line with a host of other low carbon policy developments. Hywel Davies looks at how this might work
T
he Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) has just released a new draft policy setting out revisions to the existing planning policy statements on climate change
(PPS1 supplement, 2007) and renewable energy (PPS22, 2004). The new draft sets out ‘a planning framework for securing enduring progress against the UK’s targets to cut greenhouse emissions and use more renewable and low carbon energy, and to plan for the climate change now inevitable’. Why do we need another draft Planning Policy Statement on this issue so soon? And why does it matter to services engineers, designing low carbon systems? Research commissioned by CLG looked into how current regional special strategies address climate change and implement the existing PPS1. This resulted in findings of ‘considerable inconsistencies’ in spatial strategies, with implementation of PPS1 ‘patchy’. So CLG has decided to bring the PPS1 supplement and PPS22 together, to overcome the inconsistencies and sharpen implementation and skills. The consultation explains that a
from others. Planning should give local communities real opportunities to take action on climate change and should be doing so now.’ The consultation goes on to say that, with regard to
This real challenge will
‘central challenge for planning is to respond to, and integrate with, the Government’s ambitions to tackle climate change. Planning makes a significant contribution to both mitigating and adapting to climate change, through its ability to influence the location, scale, mix and character of development.’ Engineers should welcome this, and encourage planners to appreciate that different materials, with different thermal properties, influence scale and character, but also influence comfort, overheating, and energy use. The draft PPS sets out how planning, in providing for
new homes, infrastructure and jobs, should help shape ways to achieve lower carbon emissions and greater resilience to the impacts of climate change, by setting out the overall framework for development. CLG says that ‘this should help secure progress against the UK’s emissions targets, both by direct influence on energy use and emissions through, for instance, encouraging energy efficiency, and through bringing together and encouraging actions
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CIBSE Journal April 2010
be to make this work from one planning department to the next
the target dates for zero carbon homes (2016) and non- domestic buildings (2019), and to Part L 2010 change and the proposed allowable solutions: ‘All of these initiatives are designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions: planning needs to ensure that it integrates with, not duplicates, or worse still obstructs these initiatives to achieve the most sustainable outcome possible.’ Whilst these ambitions are laudable, anyone with recent experience of trying to deliver a serious low carbon refurbishment could be forgiven for choking on their cornflakes. CIBSE spent nine months getting the planners to approve triple glazing for the refurbishment of Delta House, CIBSE’s head office in south London, as part of the CIBSE Carbon 60 project. Nobody on the top deck of the 155 bus to Clapham can spot the difference, but it had to go through the mill. Any client other than CIBSE would probably have given up. A recent private refurbishment in Hackney aimed to achieve an 80 per cent reduction, but they were
not allowed triple glazing at the front. And that is before we try to install anything unusual on the roof to generate power or hot water.
The real challenge of course, will be to make this work consistently, coherently, and with technical understanding of what is realistic and what is not, from one planning department to the next. Engineers with stories of how planning has got in the way of low carbon, rather than facilitating it, should look at the draft PPS, and see whether the proposals would have solved their problems. If not, we need to tell CLG now, while they’re asking. If you have experience of trying to implement the low
technical@cibse.org and share your pain. At least we can use it to inform the promised change of policy. l
Hywel Davies is technical director of CIBSE.
RELATED LEGISLATION
The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009:
Introduced a new regional strategy from April 2010. Climate change is now a priority for these strategies, along with economic development and housing.
The 2008 Energy Act:
Introduces Feed-In Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive to drive increased renewable energy generating capacity, and will affect planning.
The Planning Act 2008:
Created the Infrastructure Planning Commission to consider nationally significant infrastructure projects, including energy generation plant over 50 megawatts; also introduces a new requirement for regional strategies to contribute to mitigation of and adaptation to, climate change.
The Climate Change Act 2008:
created a statutory target to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, with an interim target of 34 per cent by 2020.
www.cibsejournal.com
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