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South West Planners tool kit has been developed to provide advice on sustainable energy and climate change adaptation, based on the guidance given in the Climate Change Supplement to Planning Policy Statement 1.
The Checklist is an, easy-to-use online tool that has been developed by Future Foundations and BRE. Devised specifically to guide the design of new developments by making sense of current policy, the Checklist highlights best practice, complementing Ecohomes and the new Code for Sustainable Homes.
The South West Sustainability Checklist is intended for use at the design and planning application stages of a new development. It focuses on the sustainability issues pertinent to spatial planning, although it does address those construction and ‘in-use’ issues that can be anticipated or influenced at the design phase. The Checklist assumes that the sustainability of sites being brought forward for development in Local Plans has been subject to Sustainability Appraisal / Strategic Environmental Assessment and has been tested at Examination in Public. As a result there is less focus on site location.
The South West Sustainability Checklist is a tool for decision-makers; in itself it does not make decisions. Flexibility is built into the tool to allow for variations in sites and locations as issues pertinent in one area may be less significant in another.
The Essential Role of Green Infrastructure: eco-towns green infrastructure worksheet (2008) - A Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) publication which provides guidance on multifunctional green networks including allotments, community gardens, sustainable drainage systems (SUDs) and flood storage areas. Explains the role that green infrastructure has to play in adapting to climate change (see chapter 1.1): www.tcpa.org.uk/data/files/etws_green_infrastructure.pdf.
Climate Change Adaptation by Design – a guide for sustainable communities (2007) Adaptation by design - a guide for sustainable communities - from the Town and Country Planning Association.
Development and Flood Risk - Practice Guide (June 2008) - This practice guide is complementary to Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk (PPS25) and provides guidelines on how to implement development and flood risk policies by the land use planning system. The guide also includes working examples through case studies. Click here for guide on the Communities and Local Government website: Development and Flood Risk - Practice Guide (June 2008).
Further Help and Guidance for South West Planners
South West Councils, Future Foundations and other regional groups are working to support local authority planners in their delivery of the PPS1 supplement on climate change in the South West and in particular to aid integration of climate change adaptation issues into Local Development Documents (LDDs) and the application of planning policy.
Training for local authority planners will be available from Spring 2010. The project will be complete by end of March 2011.
If you are interested and would like further information please, in the first instance, contact info@buildsw.org.uk
The purpose includes the following objectives
- Ensure that local authorities understand how to achieve best practice in the production of planning policy and delivery of planning services specifically concerning adaptation to climate change (although not in isolation from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing sustainable energy)
- Improve the skills of local authority planners and maximise their capacity to tackle climate change adaptation, through the production of planning policy and delivery of planning services
- Give local authorities improved access to the latest national, regional and local evidence concerning adaptation to climate change and ensure they have better knowledge of how to apply this to develop and support their climate change activity and policy decisions
- Provide local authority staff and Members with an enhanced awareness and understanding of the climate change adaptation agenda, so allowing improved leadership and clearer communication with their local communities on this topic
- Improve and increase local authority access to relevant data for monitoring and demonstrating achievement of national indicators such as NI 188
- Facilitate the improved coordination of climate change adaptation activity across administrative boundaries, through enhanced collaborative working and sharing of best practice, particularly on urban extensions and in connection with master planning
- Enable local authorities to better plan for a changing future climate by including adaptation actions in their planning policy and delivery of planning services, leading to improved resilience of South West land, homes and businesses
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