Climate emergency: time for planning to get on the case

We take a look at some new research from CPRE, the countryside charity, which includes an analysis of the Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire local plans.

An investigation by CPRE shows how national planning policy sets detailed and specific house building targets, with planning inspectors regularly requiring changes to local authority plans that fall short. Climate targets on the other hand, are generalised, subjective and hard to enforce, with no evidence that inspectors find fault with plans on environmental grounds.

A study of all 24 local plans outside Greater London, that have been adopted since the Climate Change Act was updated in 2019, shows just one local authority (the Plymouth and South-West Devon Joint Plan) has introduced a quantified, strategic-level carbon reduction target. No other local authority has a plan to hit net zero. In each case, government planning inspectors have been content to sign off plans without making tackling the climate emergency a central priority. A study of inspectors’ reports produced before plans are adopted showed an average of only one mention of ‘climate’ for 24 mentions of ‘housing’.

The CPRE research includes the local plans for both Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire, we quote their findings here in full:

Bedford Borough Council

Policy 51S of Bedford’s plan is titled ‘Climate Change Strategic Approach’ but this merely states that ‘the council will require the development and use of land and buildings to address climate change’ with no quantification and no reference to the role of the location of development. It is worrying that such a generalised statement of intent can be deemed by an Inspector to amount to meeting national policy and complying with climate legislation.

Central Bedfordshire Council

The local plan sets a requirement for new development to exceed Building Regulations performance on both carbon reduction and water efficiency; and policy CC2 takes a well-balanced approach to renewable energy. The plan references the council’s Environmental Framework, though this isn’t part of the development plan and therefore lacks statutory teeth. The environmental chapter (policy EE4) also recognises that woodlands, trees and hedgerows are at risk from climate change. The Inspector’s report sets out several modifications to improve these thematic policies, but these are only to ensure conformity with the wording of national policy. The Inspector does not pick up on the lack of a strategic approach to climate, especially regarding the location of development.

What would CPRE like to see?

As national planning policy doesn’t require local plans to set out their net zero plans, council leaders have been left without the tools they need to hit their legally-binding targets. We want to see the government give local authorities the power to demand and enforce year-on-year reductions in emissions.

For this to happen, we want the national planning rules to be amended so that:

• all new developments demonstrate a measurable reduction in net carbon emissions over the life of the development

• all plans demonstrate how they will deliver a reduction in private car mileage

• any plans to boost housing and employment must also be justified on the basis of the additional carbon reductions they will deliver

• all councils must have their net-zero carbon target integrated across the local plan as a whole

Changing how places work in order to make them a lot less energy-hungry is a crucial step on the road to net zero – and the planning system is the means to do it. CPRE believes it is time that planning inspectors give as much weight to environmental targets as they do housebuilding ones.

Read the report in full.