Coalition calls for climate change to be key to all planning decisions

The Planning and Climate Change Coalition, brought together by Friends of the Earth and the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) this July, has drawn up draft planning guidance that it claims would “transform the system’s ability to meet the challenge of tackling climate change”.

One of its key proposals is a that local authorities should be set renewable energy targets, while a new technical advice body would be set up to ensure the integration of data sets, methodologies and target regimes.

The coalition has not specified whether this new advice body should operate at a national or regional level, nor specified where it should be based – though an attachment to the Climate Change Committee is one possibility.

Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Nick Rau explained that there would not be a single target for all councils, but individual targets would be set by the new technical advice body, after an assessment of an area's natural resources and capacity to deliver renewable energy.

"We have to make sure that energy targets and CO2 emissions targets add up – that they do so at a national level and that they can be devolved down to the regions and below that to the local authorities," he said.

He added: "We need to be sure that, at local level, we can deliver enough projects to meet national targets."

Under the new planning rules, councils would also be required to map out local green energy opportunities that might help them meet their targets – with a particular emphasis on community-based schemes.

The extent to which the planning process is an obstacle to the widespread take-up of renewable energy was demonstrated last week when the Renewable Energy Association reported that wind farm planning approvals by local councils have slumped to a record low of 25 per cent – down from 63 per cent in 2007.

“Much of the planning system is still locked in the age of stupid,” TCPA energy policy manager Kate Henderson said today.

“It allows carbon intensive development and often refuses real solutions to climate change such as renewable energy projects."

The coalition is not just concerned about increasing the production of renewable energy, however. It wants environmental issues to be a key determinant in all planning decisions. 

Henderson explained: "The planning system can play a key part in tackling climate change by ensuring we get the right amount of renewable energy, by encouraging carbon zero development and by shaping development, which reduces the need to travel by car.”

"New guidance is desperately needed to boost green development and prevent carbon-hungry projects from being approved,” added Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins.

"Local councils have a major role to play in ensuring UK emissions reductions are met – the Government must ensure that local councils get serious about CO2."

To help focus their minds on the issue, the coalition has recommended the setting up of an education programme on climate change for councillors and planners.

The Government has already accepted that the planning system needs to be improved to enable UK climate targets to be met. And Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband has expressed his personal frustration at number of wind farm planning applications rejected.

In July, the Government promised to set a clear and challenging framework for delivering energy infrastructure and cutting carbon emissions, consistent with national ambitions set out in the Renewable Energy Strategy.

Although welcomed by the renewable industry, the Planning and Climate Change Coalition's draft planning guidance has had some objections leveled at it. The Renewable Energy Association (REA) believes the mapping 'areas-of-opportunity' is not helpful for renewable energy development. 

"The REA feels such an approach has little to commend it," said Gaynor Hartnell, chief policy officer of the REA. "It has been used for wind energy in Wales and parts of Scotland, but has not been a success. Wind energy developers know best where to site projects. It is their day job [...] By all means let’s have planners considering what contribution their areas could make and gaining a greater understanding of renewable energy, but let’s not have them drawing over maps."

The Planning and Climate Change Coalition is made up of more than 30 organisations and individuals, ranging from the UK Green Buildings Council and The National Trust to Greenpeace and the Combined Heat & Power Association (CHPA).