APPENDIX 17
Memorandum from English Nature
1. SUMMARY OF
EVIDENCE
— English Nature recognises the provision
of adequate and affordable housing as a basic human necessity.
Our concerns are less over the need to provide additional housing
but more over about where and how this takes place. We recognise
the need for additional housing provision in the south east, as
set out in the ODPM's Communities Plan[26],
and are engaging wherever we can to help ensure that this is carried
out in a sustainable way.
— There are particular locations where
we feel that environmental capacity to accommodate more houses
has been overreached. In Dorset and Surrey, for example, the wildlife
communities in the remaining lowland heath areas are struggling
to maintain viable populations due to the cumulative impacts of
adjacent development pressure.
— New housing developments must show
major resource productivity improvements in water, energy and
materials use. They must also ensure proper provision of accessible
natural green-space. This remains a major challenge whether or
not the Barker report figures are implemented.
— We feel the final Barker report sees
the planning system as the problem rather than the solution. This
is where we feel her conclusions are most flawed. In our view,
her interim report provided a more balanced picture of a number
of issues that required simultaneous action.
— English Nature would question the
basic premise that the planning system must allocate much more
land for housing in order to create an over-supply in the high
demand regions and thereby reduce house price inflation. This
strikes us as over-simplistic. It casts the planning system as
the prime obstacle to tackling house price volatility and weak
industry responsiveness rather than as a positive means of meeting
our housing demands in a sustainable way. What is needed is an
approach that encourages innovation in the house building sector
and secures quicker building rates on projects that are approved.
Positive planning can contribute to this.
— Barker's conclusions seem to centre
solely on planning the right amount of housing with less emphasis
on the quality of this provision. It excludes any consideration
of environmental impact. The planning system has a central role
in ensuring that new communities are of a high sustainable quality
which, in the words of the ODPM, will stand the test of time,
be where people want to live, and which will enable people to
meet their aspirations and potential[27].
— The Government is already taking
many of the steps recommended by the Barker Report through its
reform of the planning system. These include trying to instill
greater certainty and speed into the process without sacrificing
quality, by giving regional bodies a stronger role and by promoting
greater housing provision in the south-east through the ODPM Sustainable
Communities Plan.
— The Government's proposals for growth
in the south-east already raise challenges in terms of not overreaching
environmental capacity and in successfully matching housing with
sustainable supporting infrastructure. The Barker report seems
to want to go further along this road to increase the overall
allocation for housing growth in the south east. This moves us
further away from the plan, monitor and manage approach introduced
in Planning Policy Guidance 3 on Housing and back to "predict
and provide".
— Our present housing market reflects
many different and complex factors and to see the relaxation of
planning controls as the only solution to house price volatility
and lack of market responsiveness is in our view invalid. The
planning process has a positive role to play, along with other
measures, to help a poorly performing house building industry
to innovate, use land efficiently, to build to higher sustainable
standards and to generally achieve much better quality.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 English Nature is the statutory body
that works to conserve the biodiversity and geology of England
for this and future generations to enjoy. We have an important
role to play in helping the Government meet its sustainable development
aims. The targets and actions needed to protect and manage biodiversity
are set out in the Government's Biodiversity Strategy for England[28]
and the UK Biodiversity Action Plan[29],
which we help to deliver.
2.2 We designate and support the management
of European sites (Special Conservation Areas, Special Protection
Areas and Ramsar Sites, known as the Natura 2000 Network) and
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and put nature conservation
legislation into practice (Habitats Regulations, Wildlife and
Countryside Act and Countryside and Rights of Way Act) to protect
our most valuable habitats, species and geological sites. We promote
planning policies and practices to protect and enhance biodiversity
and geology in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. Our wider
work includes working with other organisations to involve people
with their natural environment and with area-based schemes to
support local and regional economies.
3. SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT AND
THE ROLE
OF BIODIVERSITY
3.1 Policy-makers need to recognise that
biodiversity is vital to our quality of life. Its importance to
society has already been recognised through nature-conservation
legislation and various protected sites, but it cannot be maintained
through protected sites alone. Past and present human activity
and human-population pressures have damaged the natural environment
and disrupted ecosystems (the complicated relationship that exists
between animals, plants and their natural environment which maintains
the variety of life). We need to actively manage our natural environment
to help these damaged ecosystems recover so they can continue
to function effectively and support economic productivity.
3.2 The planning system must provide an
effective framework for the active management our natural environment
to help these damaged ecosystems recover so they can continue
to function effectively, contribute to the quality of the local
environment, and support economic productivity. Future resource
use, land management and built development must recognise the
limits for using natural resources and prevent irreversible losses
of biodiversity.
3.3 Social progress, economic growth and
employment are vital to people's quality of life and a high-quality
natural environment supports economic and social well-being. Everyone
should have access to green spaces that provide opportunities
to experience wildlife, that are close to where they live and
work, for education, relaxation, exercise and general good health.
4. RESPONSES
TO QUESTIONS
POSED
Are the conclusions of the Barker Review compatible
with the general principles of sustainable development and the
Government's own sustainable development objectives?
4.1 English Nature feels that Kate Barker
recommendations are poorly aligned with the Government's sustainable
development strategy[30]
and its objective to deliver its four key aims in an integrated
way. Kate Barker's terms of reference were too narrowly defined
to be compatible with the objective of achieving sustainable development.
Her remit was to review the issues underlying the lack of supply
and responsiveness of housing in the UK and, in particular, how
the house building industry interacted with the planning system
and the Government's sustainable development objectives. As a
consequence her conclusions focus on the supply of housing rather
than the broader issue of achieving sustainability.
4.2 Kate Barker's findings have tended to
place the blame on the planning system for house price inflation
due to a lack of responsiveness to market conditions in its allocation
and release of house building land. Planning tends to be viewed
in a restrictive light, with economic considerations pitched against
environmental ones. We are concerned that the Barker recommendations
refer to the need to balance economic, social and environmental
objectives and make trade offs between them. This is at odds with
Government's policy to promote a positive and proactive planning
system geared to the delivery of all four objectives of sustainable
development in an integrated way[31].
Ensuring good quality environmental and social conditions is the
only way of creating places where people want to live that provide
the full range of opportunities needed for all.
4.3 The Planning and Compulsory Purchase
Act 2004 introduces the legal requirement for plan-makers to work
with the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable
development. Most of Kate Barker's recommendations relate to rolling
back the influence of planning and there is a danger that if these
are taken up that this will dilute the positive role of planning
in achieving sustainable development.
4.4 Kate Barker is stronger on fiscal measures
required to secure delivery. She recognises the need to tax the
windfall gain that landowners accrue through planning consent.
English Nature also sees the need to support sustainable development
through some form of "betterment taxation" provided
this does not act perversely by encouraging unsustainable development.
We do agree that it is only right that some of the benefit accruing
from planning permission should be taxed to channel benefits back
to the community.
4.5 Many of Barker's recommendations do
merit further development and mirror some of the existing planning
reforms. We believe there need to be stronger incentives to encourage
use of empty and under-used properties. This should be linked
with local authorities strengthening their urban capacity studies
and looking at means of increasing densities in existing residential
centres, including the scope for encouraging more sustainable
use of under utilised land and upper floor accommodation in commercial
properties and shops. However, it is vital that the economical
use of land does not preclude communities enjoying an adequate
provision of accessible natural greenspace.
4.6 The report promotes the use of design
codes linked to Local Development Orders as a means of speeding
up development approval. We would give guarded support to this
approach provided that these codes factored in high sustainable
development standards.
4.7 Barker recognises that the level of
planning fees and the resources available to local authorities
must be adequate to meet the cost of providing a high quality
planning service and we support these conclusions.
4.8 There is, of course, the question of
how the additional housing allocated can be achieved in a sustainable
way. Defra has only recently published the study by Entec[32]
on the environmental impacts of the increases in housing supply
proposed in the UK which factors in the Barker recommendations.
The first recommendation of this study was that further work was
required to understand more fully the environmental and sustainability
implications and regional impacts of the growth postulated by
the Barker report and the assumptions upon which this is based.
The Barker report does not take account of the costs of these
environmental impacts, which would lead to a significantly lower
equilibrium demand than forecast in the report.
In view of the Barker Review is there a need for
an overarching national strategy to ensure that the environment
is at the heart of any building programme?
4.9 There are strong arguments that a national
spatial strategy is required to provide the spatial context for
how we achieve sustainable development in this country and set
a sustainable framework for regional spatial strategies to meet
our infrastructure needs in an integrated and co-ordinated way
whilst wisely managing environmental assets.
4.10 However, although do not have a national
spatial strategy in England comparable to those in Wales and Scotland,
the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 does gives the planning
system a sustainable development duty. This should mean that the
four objectives of social progress, environmental protection,
prudent use of natural resources and maintenance of economic growth,
are met in an integrated way.
4.11 The final version of PPS 1 needs to
provide the policy basis for placing the environment at the heart
of the building programme which must align closely with the review
of the UK Sustainable Development Strategy. Whether or not the
Barker recommendations push the provision of housing above and
beyond that set out in the ODPM Sustainable Communities Plan there
remains a requirement for the planning process to deliver this
growth in a sustainable way.
Is the current planning system robust enough to
ensure that the environmental implications of building projects
are fully taken into account? How can the planning system be used
to increase the building of more sustainable housing? Would the
proposed changes to the planning system in the Barker Review have
a positive or negative effect on the environment?
4.12 The Planning and Compulsory Purchase
Act 2004 provides for a framework of Regional Spatial Strategies
and Local Development Frameworks to underpin individual development
decisions. These should take environmental implications into full
account through the statutory requirements to undergo sustainability
appraisal and comply with the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment
Directive. Assuming that these processes have been applied rigorously
then planning policies should have robustly addressed environmental
considerations. There is then a further requirement for many individual
developments to be subject to Environmental Impact Assessment
which provides a further test of the degree to which environmental
considerations have been addressed.
4.13 Where the planning system fails is
not to be able to achieve the highest degree of sustainability
in the design of these projects and this is where Government needs
to raise standards. The new houses will have significant implications
for energy, water, and waste, areas where there are strong Government
policies and commitments. How this is addressed is covered in
more detail below.
Where will the proposed new housing be built?
What are the implications for land-use and flood risk of the large-scale
proposed building projects?
4.14 The ODPM Sustainable Communities Plan
sets out where the major allocations for housing growth are to
take place and English Nature feels this should be the template
for the housing provision required. The ENTEC study by Defra has
only scratched the surface of assessing the impact of the growth
in the south-east and there is clearly more work required to ensure
that the housing growth is provided in a sustainable way.
4.15 Our view is that the developments need
to be framed around a "green infrastructure" exploiting
and enhancing existing natural systems and green networks to provide
multiple benefits such sustainable drainage and flood storage,
recreation, access and wildlife habitats. This is already being
developed in initiatives currently being undertaken in the Thames
Gateway and Milton Keynes and South Midlands growth areas.
Is it possible to ensure materials and resources
used, and waste produced, during building do not have a harmful
impact on the environment?
4.16 This is a major challenge as the construction
industry is one of the United Kingdom's largest producers of waste,
a major extractor of raw materials, and makes significant use
of energy in producing building products. In addition, the energy
consumed in buildings accounts for about half of the United Kingdom's
emissions of the "greenhouse" gas carbon dioxide. From
this starting point there is a long way to go to ensure that the
increased house building programme will not have adverse environmental
impacts.
4.17 For this reason English Nature feels
that the reform of the planning system and the delivery of the
Sustainable Communities Plan needs to seek a "quantum leap"
in sustainable design and construction. This must form an essential
component of the initial master plan for the new communities and
be followed through to the construction stage which must meet
the highest sustainability standards.
Are the building regulations as they stand capable
of ensuring that new housing is truly sustainable in the long
term? How could they be improved? Could greater use be made of
existing environmental standards for housing?
4.18 The Building Regulations have the potential
for greatly influencing the standards of sustainability in the
construction sector. The current Building Regulations only achieve
some sustainable objectives, such as energy conservation, but
there is a need for ODPM to bring forward a review which strengthens
its contributions. We support the Sustainable and Secure Buildings
Bill which is designed to bring sustainability within the Building
Regulations. We also support the recommendations of the Sustainable
Buildings Task Group[33]
to urgently install a unified code for sustainable construction
which we consider should apply universally within the construction
industry. Voluntary schemes such as the EcoHomes Standard should
become mainstreamed to guide higher construction standards. Commercial
house builders must be required to follow the example of English
Partnerships and the Housing Corporation and aim for a "very
good" or "excellent" standard of EcoHomes.
4.19 On the basis of this we believe the
Government should review the scope of the building regulations
and expand them to cover issues such as water efficiency and to
introduce a sustainable development duty within building regulations
so they apply to construction waste and the wiser use of materials,
including packaging.
How will it be possible to ensure a sustainable
infrastructure, including transport and water supply, which will
be necessary to support any extensive house building, is put in
place?
4.20 English Nature believes that a key
challenge is to provide growth in housing that is integrated with
infrastructure, employment and essential facilities and services,
including natural greenspace. There is a real risk that "sustainable
communities" will become a monoculture of dormitory settlements
where extensive private car use is necessary to reach jobs and
services. Achieving the right public transport infrastructure
is probably the single most critical factor in securing a sustainably
functioning community.
4.21 This infrastructure must be provided
at the same time as the housing and not follow on after the housing
is occupied. Funding is a challenge and financial planning is
essential to ensure the various service providers (education,
health, transport, utilities) have the capacity to deliver ahead
of demand. The new planning system must be geared towards ensuring
this joining up take place.
4.22 Kate Barker recommends a system of
taxing land value increases and the Government needs to explore
this avenue of funding. Local authorities need to ring-fence finance
accrued by local development taxes to support infrastructure to
ensure that new communities function sustainably. We commend further
development of Kate Barker's ideas of developing a Community Infrastructure
Fund and using a Planning Gain supplement to fund sustainable
infrastructure, including greenspace.
Do those involved in housing supply, both in the
public and private sector, have the necessary skills and training
to ensure new housing meets environmental objectives? If not,
how can the knowledge base of those involved in the planning and
building process be improved?
4.23 There is a general need to expand and
connect the skills necessary to deliver sustainable development
growth. The Egan Review was set up to consider this issue. English
Nature sees deficiencies in the general understanding and awareness
of the natural environment and how it can benefit the functioning
and quality of development. Barker's conclusions tend to regard
the environment as a constraint on development and to pitch one
objective against the other. English Nature believes that these
issues can be integrated but it is critical that all the agencies
involved in the provision of growth have at their disposal both
the resources and skills to achieve this in a sustainable way.
5. CONCLUSIONS
5.1 The Barker Report contains a number
of positive recommendations. However, should Government adopt
these wholesale then there is a risk that it will sacrifice many
positive aspects of its broad-based planning reform agenda. Foremost
of these is the founding of a planning system based upon the principle
of achieving sustainable development in an integrated way.
5.2 Planning must, of course, recognise
market signals but not be a slave to these. It must deliver the
housing required but this has to be achieved through an integrated
approach that recognises that long-term success rests upon sustaining
the benefits that the environment provides. Government must maintain
this perspective and not concede to any quick fixes which might
threaten the achievement of a more sustainable future.
May 2004
26 Sustainable Communities: Building for the future-Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister-5 February 2003. Back
27
Consultation Paper on Planning Policy Statement 1: Creating Sustainable
Communities-Office of the Deputy Prime Minister March 2004. Back
28
Working with the grain of nature-A biodiversity strategy for
England, Defra 2002. Back
29
Biodiversity the UK Action Plan, 1994. Back
30
DETR (May 1999) A Better Quality of Life-A Strategy for sustainable
development for the United Kingdom. Back
31
most recently expressed in draft Planning Policy Statement 1:
Creating Sustainable-Office of the Deputy Prime Minister March
2004. Back
32
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (April 2004)
Study into the Environmental Impacts of Increasing the Supply
of Housing in the UK-ENTEC et al. Back
33
Better buildings-better lives-Sustainable Buildings Task Group
Report 2004. Back
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