7 Strategy for the urban environment
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6462/04
COM(04) 60
| Commission Communication: "Towards a thematic strategy for the urban environment"
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 11 February 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 24 February 2004
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| Department | Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 8 March 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information awaited
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Background
7.1 According to the Commission, some 80% of Europe's citizens
live in urban areas, many of which are subject to environmental
problems, such as noise and poor air quality, leading to health
problems and to a lower quality of life. It therefore places importance
on addressing these issues, and it has sought to do so in this
thematic strategy, which it says builds on a series of earlier
initiatives, and is one of seven such strategies envisaged in
the Community's Sixth Environmental Action Programme.
The current document
7.2 In introducing this document —
which it sees as leading to the production of a final strategy
in the summer of 2005, following further consultation —
the Commission says that many of the problems identified are common
to Europe's cities, and that there are clear opportunities to
seek appropriate solutions at a European level. It suggests that
this would involve putting in place a strong framework, which
would integrate the wide range of existing Community policies,
whilst leaving decisions on specific actions to be taken at a
local level. The key element would involve capital cities and
urban agglomerations of more than 100,000 inhabitants (the 500
largest towns and cities within the Community) adopting an urban
environment management plan, which would aim to achieve a sustainable
urban environment by means of four cross-cutting themes —
sustainable urban management,
sustainable urban transport, sustainable construction, and sustainable
urban design —
with other priority themes being identified and addressed at a
later stage.
SUSTAINABLE URBAN MANAGEMENT
7.3 The Commission believes that a high quality urban
environment is unlikely to emerge without a clear plan to achieve
agreed objectives, involving public participation, transparency
of decision and accountability, and it says that, although the
need for this was recognised by the call at the 1992 Earth Summit
for local municipalities to prepare appropriate strategies, the
response within the Community has so far been very uneven, and
is starting to falter. It notes the current Community initiatives
in this area, including the voluntary Environmental Management
and Audit Scheme (EMAS), and requirements on local authorities
to manage air quality and environmental noise, and to participate
in river basin management, and it suggests that the opportunity
should now be taken to combine these obligations into a unified
environmental management plan, which would address a range of
key issues.[13] It further
suggests that these should increase co-operation between different
levels of government and neighbouring administrations, and address
other gaps and defects, such as lack or under-use of data, as
well as helping to overcome short-term planning driven by political
considerations. It also says that these steps would need to be
accompanied by a comprehensive management system to allow the
plan to be reviewed on a regular basis, and to enable the authorities
concerned to comply with (and enforce) European and national environmental
legislation.
SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT
7.4 The Commission states that urban transport systems
are a critical element, in ensuring access to goods, services,
employment and recreation opportunities, in terms of the environmental
impact of traffic on air pollution, noise, congestion, and in
contributing to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and to urban
sprawl. It recalls that the 2001 White Paper on European Transport
Policy noted that a critical point had been reached in developing
a diversified energy supply for transport, and that a subsequent
Green Paper on security of energy supply had highlighted the need
to rationalise private car use and improve urban transport. It
says that it is implementing a work programme in the field of
clean and accessible urban transport, and the use of energy efficient
vehicles, where it points to the considerable body of European
legislation already enacted, and that this has been backed up
by measures to improve public transport, road safety and transport
infrastructure.
7.5 On the other hand, the Commission also points
out that the improvements from these various initiatives have
to be set against the predicted increase in traffic, with particularly
sharp rises in car use being expected in the new Member States.
It therefore proposes that the towns and cities concerned should
implement a sustainable urban transport plan, which would seek
to reduce the negative impacts of transport, and link into related
regional and national strategies. However, it stresses that specific
objectives should be decided locally, and that all Member States
should in parallel adopt a clear urban transport policy to promote
sustainability and to internalise transport costs through such
measures as taxation, road user charging and licence fees. They
are also encouraged to evaluate the impact of infrastructure projects
after their completion.
SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
7.6 The Commission describes buildings as the defining
element of the urban environment, partly because they create a
sense of place and identity, but also because their lighting and
heating is a major source of energy use and of greenhouse gas
emissions, and their construction and demolition have a significant
bearing on mineral extraction and waste disposal. It therefore
suggests that these factors, together with the impact which poor
design can have on the health of a building's occupants, have
the potential to bring about significant environmental improvements
in urban areas, particularly as regards the renovation of existing
buildings. It notes a number of initiatives already taken in
this area by the Community, dealing with energy efficiency, but
says that progress is being hindered by a lack of interest from
builders and buyers, for whom any longer-term benefits tend to
be obscured by more immediate concerns over the costs involved.
7.7 It therefore considers that action is needed
to emphasize those benefits, including lower maintenance and running
costs, better durability, and higher resale price, and it suggests
that the existing legislation on energy performance should be
extended to include other key elements, such as indoor air quality,
noise levels, materials quality, and the ability, where necessary,
to deal with hazards such as floods. It further suggests that
the adoption of a common methodology at the European level for
evaluating the sustainability performance of buildings could be
used to promote best practice, and that this could then lead to
benefits, such as lower tax rates, insurance premiums and borrowing
rates. Such an approach could be supported by programmes adopted
either by Member States or local authorities, not least in their
own purchasing requirements, with these initiatives being backed
up by suitable training and demonstration projects.
SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN
7.8 The Commission says that the use of land is
also fundamental to a town's character, environmental performance
and quality of life, and that urban sprawl is the most urgent
of the issues which arise in this context, since it uses valuable
green space and increases dependence on motorised transport, whilst
often leaving city centres with large numbers of empty properties
and derelict sites. It says that previous policy papers have emphasized
the need to construct high-density, mixed use and compact developments
on brownfield sites to minimise these problems, and that the use
of land will become increasingly important as such factors as
the demand for single-occupant homes continues to increase. The
Commission notes that a number of Directives have an influence
on urban land use, and that it has in preparation a number of
other proposals, for example, to make available harmonised and
high quality geographic information. It sees the proposed strategy
as endorsing this approach, not by setting a standard system for
land use decisions, but rather by discouraging unsustainable approaches,
and by exploring the possibility of developing guidelines on specific
issues which could have a positive influence. This would be backed
up by research, exchanges of experience and the promotion of best
practice.
7.9 Finally, the Commission highlights two more general
needs. The first is for a more integrated approach, which would
involve improving links between the urban environment and other
relevant Community policies; developing within Community environmental
policy an urban focus for key sectors (such as water, air and
noise); encouraging local authorities to adopt an integrated management
system; and bringing together the different levels of administration
(Community, national, regional and local). The second is the use
of suitable indicators, so as to allow targets to be set and progress
assessed. The Commission says that it will identify such indicators
to monitor the effects of the proposed strategy, and will encourage
Member States to use these at the local level.
The Government's view
7.10 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 8 March 2004,
the Minister of State for Housing and Planning in the Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Keith Hill) says that the consistency
of these proposals with the principle of subsidiarity has yet
to be examined, but that the Government broadly welcomes the Communication
and the Commission's interest in promoting sustainable cities.
He says that the UK would support an approach based on the sharing
and promotion of good practice, and that the Government is working
hard at national and regional levels to promote good-quality urban
environments and sustainable development.
7.11 However, the Minister also says that the UK
Government and the devolved administrations would oppose any move
towards legislation formalising activities relating to planning
and urban policies, and in particular the requirement for cities
with over 100,000 people to produce environmental management and
transport plans. He adds that the UK would strongly oppose new
sustainable transport plans if these forced a change to the existing
local transport plan system, though it would support many of the
best practice proposals, as they reflect policies which are being
implemented already.
Conclusion
7.12 It is clearly right that measures should
be taken to improve the urban environment, and we recognise that
this document represents the first step in the development of
a thematic strategy of the kind envisaged in the Sixth Environmental
Action Programme. Nevertheless, there does seem to us a very
real danger that, far from contributing to its stated objective,
this Communication will prove to be no more than a distraction,
simply adding another bureaucratic tier in an area where the Commission
itself acknowledges that the effectiveness of the action taken
depends largely upon local decisions.
7.13 We were therefore interested to note the
Minister's comments, and in particular that the subsidiarity implications
of the Communication have yet to be examined. Since this point
goes to the heart of the concerns we have expressed, we will await
the Government views on it before taking a view ourselves. In
the meantime, we will continue to hold the document under scrutiny.
13 Such as energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions,
water use and treatment, waste, noise, air quality, nature and
biodiversity, transport and mobility, design, natural and man-made
risks, and sustainable construction. Back
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