Planning

Local authorities have responsibility for taking action on climate change through their Local Development Framework (LDF).

Climate change festival 2008. Photo by John James.

Spatial planning is about planning for the future of a place and its management in its widest sense. A spatial plan is the responsibility of all those involved in strategic decision making, service delivery and investment. This includes senior officers and members with responsibility for economic planning, housing strategy, transport planning, education, children’s services, health and wellbeing, environment, green space and regeneration. Planning is a critical tool to implement strong principles which will effect climate change, particularly through the local development framework. This includes the core strategy, area action plans and supplementary planning documents.

Local Development Framework

The local development framework (LDF), in particular the core strategy, is a vital tool for local planning authorities to tackle climate change. It is particularly valuable because it has a long term perspective, integrates social, environmental and economic issues, is democratic and widely consulted on, and requires testing and resolution of conflicting interests. It is vital that local planning authorities make the most of this opportunity and take a spatial approach to planning to deliver sustainable places.

Climate change is an overarching issue that cannot be treated as solely environmental objective, there are economic and social imperatives that are fundamental to creating long term successful places. To mitigate and adapt to climate change the local authority should take a holistic approach to what the future of the place will be like. This integrated approach ensures that climate change is embedded in the strategy, rather than being a thematic policy which is weighed up against other, potentially conflicting, thematic policies.

Taking a spatial approach means that local authorities can proactively address climate change adaptation and mitigation measures by thinking about place making and wider issues, such as:

• identifying preferred areas for renewable generation
• iromoting area-wide renewable energy use
• getting people to walk, cycle and use public transport rather than drive
• promoting re-use and recycling of waste
• promoting sustainable management of water resources, including flood control and coastal defences
• reducing the effects of urban heat islands, e.g. through green infrastructure
• facilitating and encouraging behavioural change and energy demand management.

Each of these need to be considered in the context of the place, and tested to reduce conflicts and ensure that the strategy sets out specific targets and an approach that will achieve the scale of change needed to meet climate change objectives. For example the following could be included in the core strategy:

• current eco footprint, so that the strategy has a benchmark to work against
• an explicit strategy for enhancing public transport (e.g. Sheffield has clear parking policies and specific priority bus routes)
• priorities for tackling the inherited problems of energy inefficiency in existing housing stock
• a clear understanding of the current energy/carbon balance sheet, with the capacity to evaluate impacts systematically.

Planning for Places helps local authorities take a spatial approach to writing their core strategy as part of a local development framework. It contains three key messages:

Tell the story - a good core strategy needs to tell the story of the place, explain how it works and highlight its qualities and distinguishing features. Telling the story helps everyone understand how the qualities of the place have shaped the strategy and its priorities for future quality.

Set the agenda - use the core strategy to say what is wanted for the area, express aspirations and be proactive and positive about the future of the place and say how this will be achieved. Set out what is expected in terms of design quality and where necessary provide links to the relevant development plan documents or supplementary planning documents.

Say it clearly - make the core strategy relevant and understandable to a wide audience. Use diagrams to inform the text and communicate the strategy and show what quality of place means.

Sustainable masterplanning

Climate change reinforces the need for comprehensive masterplanning to set a framework for areas of substantial new development or redevelopment, as well as for existing urban quarters and neighbourhoods that undergo area-wide interventions. Climate change cannot be addressed through a piecemeal approach.

Sustainable masterplanning must embed the core principles of climate change adaptation as well as targets for mitigation. The key principles are to:

• work with local residents and other stakeholders to develop long-term plans for every neighbourhood which link a deep analysis of townscape and heritage value today with visions for the future
• plan the location of homes, businesses, social infrastructure and open spaces to minimise the use of energy and need to travel
• analyse the local context to produce appropriate passive design responses (building mass, orientation to the sun and prevailing winds, balance between the height and depth of buildings and their relationship to open spaces) to minimise the need for expensive technologies at the building scale
• consider from the outset of the design process how places and the buildings and other assets that make them up will be managed and maintained in the long term
• undertake thermal and energy masterplanning so that waste heat is minimised across cities, neighbourhoods and sites
• undertake utilities masterplanning (electricity, gas, vehicle refuelling, telecommunications, water supply and sewerage) across cities, neighbourhoods and sites
• loose fit – create buildings and places that are inherently flexible and can easily accommodate change over time
• ensure that developments are planned and areas refurbished taking account of the future impacts of climate change - and adaptation measures that may need to be retrofitted
• consider how new developments can improve the sustainability of existing places by sharing infrastructure and services
• plan for refurbishment of neighbourhoods, sites, buildings and public spaces to minimise carbon emissions and to increase resilience to a changing climate.