APPENDIX 21
Memorandum from the Town and Country Planning
Association (TCPA)
The TCPA welcomes the opportunity to respond
to this consultation. The charitable purpose of the Town and Country
Planning Association is to improve the art and science of town
and country planning. It is the only independent organisation
for planning and housing covering the UK and the longest-established
planning body in the world. Its key objectives are to:
1. Secure a decent home for everyone, in
a good human-scale environment combining the best features of
town and country;
2. Empower people and communities to influence
decisions that affect them;
3. Improve the planning system in accordance
with the principles of sustainable development.
The Association campaigns for improvements to
the places in which we live and strives for the best in the new
communities of the future.
INTRODUCTION
This response will address the specific questions
set out by the Audit Committee.
1. Are the conclusions of the Barker Review
compatible with the general principles of sustainable development
and the Government's own sustainable development objectives?
The TCPA broadly welcomed the findings of the
Barker review, having long campaigned for recognition of the often
desperate need for increases in housing supply in many parts of
the country. The social costs of not addressing this issue are
and will continue to be huge. The Review emphasises the economic
costs of the housing shortage, while also making reference to
the social implications, but the principles of sustainable development
require that these be considered together with environmental factors.
The TCPA is also aware of the potential negative
environmental impacts that such large-scale development may bring,
something eluded to but not expanded upon in the final Barker
report. However, the TCPA does not believe that the objectives
of achieving positive social and environmental objectives are
necessarily mutually exclusive.
If the recommendations of the Barker Review
are to be implemented in a truly sustainable way then Government
needs to take action on a number of fronts.
In October 2003 the TCPA and WWF, together with
a number of other organisations, including BRE and Somerset Trust
for Sustainable Development, published Building Sustainably:
how to plan and construct new housing for the 21st century.
This report makes recommendations for what changes are essential
to the planning system and Building Regulations in order to bring
sustainable housing from a specialist and exemplar activity to
a mainstream one. The report has been well received amongst policy
makers and a number of key recommendations have now been or are
in the process of being taken up, including revisions to Planning
Policy Statement 1 (PPS1) making it clear that a primary objective
of the planning system is to ensure development comes forward
in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
The emphasis in draft PPS1 on sustainable development
(together with community involvement and spatial planning) is
a welcome recognition of the need for development to contribute
to sustainability. However, in order for this to translate into
effective delivery of sustainable housing, the Government should
prepare and widely consult on good practice guidance for local
authority planners covering all aspects of sustainability including
transport. Guidance for developers and others involved in the
house building process should also be considered.
The TCPA is very concerned that the 200,000
or so additional homes (on top of planned provision in Regional
Planning Guidance of the South East, East of England and London
regions) set out in the Government's Sustainable Communities plan
will not be built to higher standards. Failure to do this will
not only miss a unique opportunity to build homes of high environment
quality on a large scale in sustainable locations served by sustainable
transport (thereby taking advantage of economies of scale and
development of new markets), but will also adversely affect the
Government's ability to meet legally binding emissions reduction
targets and creation of truly sustainable communities.
A key issue for ensuring delivery of sustainable
buildings is effective enforcement—this applies to both
planning and building control departments. It is a generally held
view amongst the practitioners that the TCPA talked to during
the preparation of its Building Sustainably report that
the relevant legislation is adequate, the real problem is resources:
both human and financial. As a result, enforcement tends to react
to breaches rather than pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
2. 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?
Yes, provided such a strategy (which a revised
sustainable communities programme could provide) integrates social
and economic objectives along with environmental ones. The TCPA
believes that the Communities Plan needs to be developed into
a sustainable development framework for England as a whole. The
Plan's welcome commitments to sustainable development need to
be applied to high and carefully monitored standards. Only then
could the programme fulfil the requirements of such an over-arching
sustainable development strategy.
There is much information and many examples
of good practice exist when it comes to developing sustainable
buildings but they are not being mainstreamed. It would be very
helpful if the Government were to publish an overarching strategy
or guidance (perhaps a series of guidance documents aimed at different
audiences: regional and local government and agencies; private
sector; investors; suppliers etc.) that brought all this disparate
material together in a cohesive form and would provide a robust
and defensible basis for action through planning.
Such a strategy and/or documents would set out
relevant Government policy objectives, legislation, and examples
of good practice. It would also need to be clear about what was
required, through legislation and building regulations for instance,
and what was merely aspirational. It should also point to any
incentives that exist for developers to build to higher standards.
Confusion exists between planning departments
and building control departments as to who is responsible for
what in relation to sustainable development. This needs to be
clarified. In addition, the two departments need to work more
closely together so that the maximum environmental benefit can
be brought out of a development.
3. 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?
The Planning System has much to commend it in
relation to promoting more sustainable housing and sustainable
development generally but does not yet provide a robust process
to ensure all aspects of sustainability of development are effectively
considered universally. There are a number of improvements and
clarifications that could be implemented in order to strengthen
existing powers.
The Barker Review was written from a predominantly
economic perspective and concerns itself mainly with speed and
efficiency. The TCPA agrees that speed and efficiency are important
objectives of the planning system, but believes that quality decisions
and quality applications take time so the process needs to provide
for a more effective mechanism to engage all the key players in
ensuring actual delivery of sustainable development quickly. All
reforms to planning legislation and policy should have sustainable
development objectives at their heart, but other key players—transport
operators, Environment Agency etc.—need to be required to
engage and support the process.
The Barker Review recommendations if implemented
as they stand are likely to result in a negative impact on the
environment and put enormous pressure on the environments of some
parts of the country. However, as stressed earlier, this does
not have to be the case. Building to higher environmental standards
and ensuring that the infrastructure is in place when required,
would help to ensure creation of genuinely sustainable communities.
The TCPA/WWF report Building Sustainably
recommends:
— Planning authorities at all levels
should promote sustainable construction and the highest standards
of design in all new development. Planners should also be given
assurances that they can legitimately turn down planning applications
on sustainable development grounds, without fear of costly appeals.
— The Government should set out to
improve the positive role that planning can have in achieving
sustainable development by raising its profile and addressing
the negative image it currently has.[37]
This will entail additional resources, better training and education
amongst others.
4. 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?
It is important that new (appropriate) housing
is built in locations where it is most needed. Often this will
be in southern parts of the country, where pressures on the housing
market are highest and affordability lowest. However, it is also
important that consideration is made of areas where housing markets
are less strong or have collapsed. Reviving these markets will
help to ease pressure on booming areas, while improving the environments
locally. The Government has begun to address these areas with
its Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Areas and the Northern Way,
however it will be a long process requiring more investment than
has currently been made available.
The consequence of meeting demand in the south
of the country will be increased pressure on already pressured
environments in terms of transport provision, the environment
and supporting infrastructure. This point has been referred to
earlier in this submission. In addition, in using the planning
system and other mechanisms the Government needs to ensure that
housing need is met in ways that best meet the needs of communities
and the environment. For instance, this will involve avoiding
unnecessary urban sprawl; and creation of attractive environments
that people want to live in and that are able to adapt to their
changing needs.
The TCPA is in the process of completing a guide
to biodiversity, entitled TCPA How To Guide: Biodiversity—Enhancing
Biodiversity Through the Creation of Sustainable Communities.
This guide is expected to be launched in September[38]
and will set out how new communities can preserve and enhance
biodiversity within them.
While it may be desirable to avoid building
in areas prone to flooding, the realities are that developing
such sites will be unavoidable. Also, they may be ideal locations
on other criteria, such as re-use of brownfield sites or proximity
to public transport and facilities. As such, it is important that
such developments both limit the impact they have on floodplains
and surrounding buildings, so as to minimise flood risk, and are
built in such a way as to tolerate flooding when it occurs.
The TCPA therefore recommends that as far as
possible, all developments in flood prone areas (and this should
include areas prone to flooding at previously low frequency intervals
on the assumption the climate change will increase their frequency)
be built to withstand floods and have a minimum impact on the
functioning of the floodplain. This could include: building regulations
requiring electrics to be encased in watertight units, with sockets
fitted higher up walls; sewerage systems that will not back-up
when flooded; the Environment Agency and other relevant bodies
should have people skilled in advising on the design of developments
within the floodplain. Account will also need to be given to the
insurance implications.
In addition, sustainable drainage (SUDs) systems
should be included in all new developments where appropriate,
regardless of whether or not they are located within a floodplain.
This will help to ease pressure on existing drainage systems,
particularly during storms.
The emerging findings of two of the projects
being carried out as part of the UKCIP/EPSRC[39]
Building Knowledge for a Changing Climate (BKCC) initiative should
be considered as part of the process of developing strategies
for building on floodplains: Adaptation Strategies for Climate
Change in the Urban Environment (ASCCUE) led by Manchester University,
with the TCPA co-ordinating the stakeholder element; and Adaptable
urban drainage—addressing changes in intensity, occurrence
and uncertainty of stormwater (AUDACIOUS).
5. Is it possible to ensure materials and
resources used, and waste produced, during building do not have
a harmful impact on the environment?
Buildings and the process of building them is
resource intensive. Increasing the supply of housing will add
an additional burden to the UK's overall resource requirement.
For obvious reasons it will never be possible to use no resources,
however it has been proved possible to significantly reduce the
amount that is used, the quantity of waste, the amount coming
from recycled sources, and the distance such resources have to
travel before they reach the building site.
Sustainable procurement of materials is critical
if the environmental and social impacts are to be minimised. A
key part of the selection of materials is the use of life-cycle
assessments to establish the overall impact of the material from
"cradle to grave". A number of good examples of sustainable
use of materials exist.[40]
However these are not mainstream and need to become the norm:
— Timber was sourced from local, well managed
woodlands, or Forest Stewardship Council certified woodlands.
— Wherever possible, natural, recycled
or reclaimed materials were used, products with low embodied energy
and those that were not associated with habitat destruction. Some
materials, however, were chosen for thermal performance despite
high embodied energy.
— Excellent recycling and composting facilities.
— As much material as possible was sourced
from within 60km of the site.
— Hockerton Housing Project
— Materials using minimal embodied energy,
and assessment of environmental policies of manufacturers.
— Local suppliers used where possible,
and community businesses developed to provide employment Hockerton
community members.
— Watton Green, Castle Vale Estate,
Birmingham—EcoHomes "Excellent"
— 4 credits for procuring timber from managed
sources.
— 5 out of 6 building elements achieved
maximum credits under Green Guide to Housing specification.
The TCPA recommends that it should be a requirement
for all public sector development projects to implement sustainable
procurement practices. This should also apply to the Housing Corporation,
English Partnerships and other government agencies. The Government
should explore mechanisms for creating similar practices within
the private sector. These could include, positive tax regimes
for sustainable products or those sourced locally. Wider policy
goals may also have indirect benefits, such as increasing fuel
duties.
A revised Building Regulation Approved Document
relating to materials should be introduced[41].
This should require the use of materials with low environmental
impacts and reused/recycled materials. The toxicity of materials
should also be considered. This could be trialled by introducing
requirements for minimum percentage of all new construction materials
being "A" rated through the Green Guide to Specification.
6. 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?
The Building Regulations as they stand are in
no way capable of ensuring that new homes are sustainable in the
long-term for two reasons: they are unable legally to address
sustainable development—the new Part L deals only with energy
use and efficiency; and they are inflexible and could only truly
address sustainable development if they work in tandem with the
planning system.
The TCPA is pleased that the Sustainable and
Secure Buildings Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will
allow the Building Regulations to address sustainable development.
This Bill should be supported by MPs across all parties and the
Government should set out how it intends to formulate, consult
on and make detailed regulations to ensure successful implementation.
Once the Bill is in place, or as soon as possible
if it falls, the Government should undertake a fundamental review
of the Building Regulations in the context of sustainable development.
In addition, accepting that fundamental overhaul of the Building
Regulations will take some time to put in place, advantage should
be taken of opportunities for updating existing regulations.
As mentioned earlier, there is concern regarding
compliance with existing requirements. The new Approved Document
L, Conservation of Fuel and Power, now requires testing to satisfy
compliance with air tightness requirements in most non-domestic
buildings. In housing, compliance may still be satisfied through
use of standard details given in the Stationery Office publication,
Limiting thermal bridging and air leakage: Robust construction
details for dwellings and other similar buildings. The effectiveness
of this method of compliance is subject to site workmanship and
can be rendered almost useless if the quality is poor. In recognition
of this problem the recently revised Approved Document E, Resistance
to the Passage of Sound, currently requires testing to satisfy
compliance.
Regional and local strategies should require
that all developments achieve a minimum standard of BRE's EcoHomes
"Very Good", or use an equivalent alternative standard.
The TCPA welcomes the Better Buildings Task Group report recommendation
that a unified Code of Sustainable Building (CSB) be introduced
based on EcoHomes and BREEAM, but including energy and water efficiency,
and waste minimisation.
The TCPA recommends that Government insists
that all new homes in the four South East Growth Areas be built
to at least EcoHomes "Very Good" standard, with a proportion
built to an "Excellent" standard. This requirement should
be applied to houses built by the public and private sectors,
and Registered Social Landlords. Equivalent standards, such as
BREEAM should be required for all other buildings. The recommendation
from Kate Barker, that the increase in house building be extended,
offers a further opportunity for action.
7. 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?
The Sustainable Communities plan fails to adequately
address the issue of revenue raising or mechanisms for the delivery
of sustainable infrastructure alongside developments: a quick
look over the figures shows a massive funding gap, which the Government
has no convincing proposals for plugging and no means to ensure
that transport operators etc. actually deliver the infrastructure.
The TCPA has long advocated that a fair proportion
of the uplift in the value of land resulting from the granting
of a planning permission should be retained for the benefit of
the community. Mechanisms need to be fully explored in terms of
their applicability to developing sustainable communities. The
TCPA is pleased that this was also recognised in the Barker Review.
The resulting revenue raised using such mechanisms,
would help to fund the supporting transport, community and environmental
infrastructure necessary for creating of genuinely sustainable
communities. In addition, the Government must put in place structures
that ensure that relevant departments and agencies work together
so that necessary infrastructure is in place at the right time.
The TCPA recommends that the respective corporate
strategies for education and health authorities, water and electricity
infrastructure companies, transport bodies (such as the Strategic
Rail Authority, bus and local rail network operators) etc. fully
integrate the requirements of housing strategies and that these
bodies are all involved in their preparation and delivery.
8. 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?
Sustainable development and sustainable construction
are relatively new terms within the planning system and as such,
many planners are ill-prepared to deal effectively with the issues
as they arise in planning applications. It is often due to a small
number of enlightened officers and councillors that the few exemplar
projects we have exist at all.
The goal of planning education and Continuing
Professional Development must be to ensure that planners are equipped
with a minimum basic education on such issues. Similarly, awareness
and understanding must be increased amongst applicants and developers.
All regions should develop a programme of sustainable
construction education, training, and awareness raising, delivered
through a regional network for Planning, Environmental Health
and Building Control officers and councillors.
It is particularly important to grasp opportunities
to achieve energy neutral developments, high standards of insulation,
layouts that reduce the need to use transport etc. at the early
stages of development, eg when land is first allocated in a local
development plan or Local Development Framework. By attaching
such priorities to particular sites at an early stage, additional
costs attributable to such higher standards can be absorbed by
the land value. Planners and developers need not only the skills
in this area, but also a supportive policy regime referred to
in Question 6 above.
June 2004
37 The TCPA's Putting Planning First Campaign is pressing
for better integration of planning and planning related functions;
increased status; and a positive role for planning in delivering
sustainable development. Back
38
For more details contact Caroline Green at the TCPA, projects@tcpa.org.uk Back
39
More information can be found on: http://www.ukcip.org.uk/pdfs/Built%20Environment.pdf
and by contacting Robert Shaw at the TCPA robert.shaw@tcpa.org.uk Back
40
Further examples can be found in Building Sustainably: how to
plan and construct new housing for the 21st Century, www.tcpa.org.uk Back
41
The current "Materials and Workmanship, Approved Document
to support regulation 7 (2000)" does not adequately address
the environmental impact of construction materials. This document
should be expanded, revised and re-introduced as a new "Part"
to ensure that practitioners give it the same consideration as
the other Approved Documents. Back
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