Memorandum from English Partnerships
INTRODUCTION
English Partnerships (EP) welcomes the opportunity
to give evidence to the Committee's inquiry. This memorandum concentrates
on EP's role and remit, focussing on our work in providing sustainable
communities.
THE ROLE
OF ENGLISH
PARTNERSHIPS
English Partnerships is the national regeneration
agency, helping Government support high quality sustainable growth
across England.
The Sustainable Communities Plan gave English
Partnerships a key role in:
— Four growth areas in the south.
— The creation of a new Brownfield
strategy.
— The creation of a register of "surplus"
public sector land.
— Nine market renewal pathfinder areas
in the north/midlands.
— Nine Regional Housing Boards linked
to a new emphasis on housing and communities.
EP's role can summarised as:
— Developing our own portfolio of strategic
sites.
— Acting as the Government's specialist
advisor on brownfield land.
— Making sure that surplus Government
land is used to support wider Government objectives, especially
the implementation of the Sustainable Communities Plan.
— Helping to create communities where
people can afford to live and where people want to live.
— Supporting the urban renaissance
by improving the quality of our towns and cities.
EP's work is characterised by:
— The early and active involvement
of local communities.
— Close and productive relationships
with the private sector, adding value through joint ventures.
— The innovative use of our own sites
to promote new standards of sustainable development and advance
best practice.
— The highest standards of design,
environmental sustainability and construction.
— The recognition that lasting development
unites the local, regional and national dimensions.
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
PLAN AND
BARKER REPORT
The level of growth put forward in the Sustainable
Communities Plan and expanded in the Barker Report are phased
over 15-20 years but will have environmental implications through
land take, resource requirements, waste generated and various
emissions through construction and increased transport for example.
Government recognises the above implications
and seeks to protect the environment through the requirement for
60% of new housing to be built on brownfield land, commitments
to maintain and expand the greenbelt, through planning policy
such as PPG3; the Density Direction; and the Greenfield Direction,
through various fiscal incentives, the Energy White Paper and
Action Plan and through tougher design and building standards.
ENGLISH PARTNERSHIPS
Sustainability is central to the work of English
Partnerships. From its overarching aim of "supporting high
quality sustainable growth across the country" to its key
role in providing sustainable communities which are well designed,
mixed tenure, mixed developments with access to a variety of transport
modes, job opportunities, social infrastructure, retail, open
space and constructed to high standards of sustainability.
EP takes account of sustainability issues throughout
the stages of a project through:
— Applying sustainability principles
and good practice throughout each stage of the development and
construction process.
— Using and appointing organisations
to undertake project tasks.
EP has drafted Best Practice Notes on Environmental
Briefing Standards, on Environmental Appraisal (currently being
revised to cover wider sustainability issues), Environmental Impact
Assessment and Design to ensure these standards are adhered to
(as well as identifying wider environmental impacts). Additional
advice is available through the Project Guidance covering sustainability
(covering issues such as waste, resource use, biodiversity, etc),
contaminated land and whole life costs.
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
EP have adopted a wide-ranging set of environmental
standards for all new homes, retail, office and industrial buildings
constructed on its land. The standards are in line with the recommendations
of The Energy Review produced by the PIU (Performance and Innovation
Unit).
All development briefs prepared by EP set minimum
environmental standards to be achieved as follows:
|
| Building Type | Rating Scheme
| Standard |
|
| Residential | (BREEAM) EcoHomes
| Very Good |
| | NHER
| 9.0 |
| Offices | BREEAM for Offices
| Very Good |
| Industrial | BREEAM 5/93
| Very Good |
| Retail | BREEAM Retail
| Very Good |
|
The same standards will not apply to every single development,
but a common basis has been established so that, for instance,
where higher standards are adopted (as they may be in the Millennium
Communities) it is clear what "higher" means.
Currently there are a number of landmark or exemplar schemes
in progress which have adopted higher standards. These include
the Millennium Communities Programme, Broughton Atterbury, Central
Milton Keynes, Omega and Lightmoor which will all achieve BREEAM
"Excellent" and NHER 10.0. All schemes in Milton Keynes
achieve NHER 10.0. Examples of English Partnerships programmes
and projects which fulfil sustainability criteria are given in
annex.
EP are working with ODPM, CABE and the Housing Corporation
to examine how to synthesise the Millennium Community and Building
for Life standards, and incorporate key elements from BRE's EcoHomes
and other standards that help to create sustainable communities.
This work will tie in with the recommendations of the Sustainable
Buildings Task Group report issued in May 2004. The Group, co-chaired
by Victor Benjamin, Deputy Chair of English Partnerships and Sir
John Harman, Chairman of the Environment Agency, recommended the
establishment of a single national Code for Sustainable Buildings,
based on BREEAM and incorporating clearly specified minimum standards
in key resource efficiency criteria (energy, water, waste and
use of materials).
In relation to current construction standards, EP continues
to monitor proposed revisions to the Building Regulations and
note the proposed widening of their scope proposed through the
Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill currently before Parliament
to include energy, waste and water conservation together with
due consideration of crime prevention. Improvements in the legislative
baseline will lead EP to revisit the standards proposed for exemplar
projects in future development briefs.
DESIGN
The above standards and others are also carried through by
English Partnerships Design agenda with its championing of national
Best Practice, promoting and delivering the highest possible standards
in urban design and sustainable development. This includes:
— Promoting the use of Design Codes as a means of
instructing developers how to respond to site requirements, whilst
maintaining consistent quality in large-scale projects. The Upton
Code in Northampton has won the RTPI Regional award for Publications.
— Making best use of our land assets by achieving
densities of development in excess of those set out in government
guidance such as PPG3, significantly higher densities are achieved
where appropriate.
LAND
English Partnerships also has a key role in the provision
of land for development, particularly in bringing previously developed
land back into use through initiatives such as the National Brownfield
Strategy and Surplus Public Sector Land Register.
English Partnerships' Towards a National Brownfield Strategy
(published in November 2003) is the most comprehensive study
ever undertaken to assess the state of England's brownfield land
supply. The study highlighted that there is a huge potential to
recycle brownfield land to meet government housing growth targets,
while reducing the pressure to develop on our countryside.
— Within these five categories more than 20,000ha
of PDL (ie nearly one third of the total) has been identified
as being unconstrained and therefore available for redevelopment.
— Of this unconstrained PDL, 7,330ha has been classified
as being immediately available.
— Analysis of redevelopment trends shows that currently
more than 50% of PDL that is redeveloped is already in some form
of use. Additionally, land with constraints is also developed.
This means that the potential to redevelop unconstrained land
within categories B, D and E, is also high.
Other key findings of the study include:
— Nearly one-third of the brownfield or previously
developed land (PDL) identified is contained within the key "growth
area" regions (ie Greater London, South East and East of
England).
— Only one-sixth of the total hardcore PDL (ie land
that has been vacant or derelict for nine years or more) is to
be found in these growth regions, suggesting fewer barriers to
the long-term regeneration of brownfield land.
— The target of achieving 60%, or more, of new homes
on brownfield land should continue to be achievable in the foreseeable
future.
The Report also illustrates that more work is required to
ensure progress is maintained to meet Government economic and
housing growth targets and the challenges and opportunities facing
the public and private sector in meeting these targets.
Recent concerns regarding that the supply of brownfield will
not be enough to meet the demand envisaged in the Sustainable
Communities Plan does not take account of the fact that a larger
proportion of the brownfield land (with a lesser proportion of
"hardcore" land) is found within the growth areas thereby
providing a greater potential resource for supporting the Government's
economic and housing growth targets.
There is also a great deal of work underway to develop new
initiatives and mechanisms to increase the amount of brownfield
land coming forward for development and the report itself includes
a number of recommendations for the development of the National
Brownfield Strategy.
EP has been analysing the future processes and policies that
will need to be implemented to bring forward more sites for development.
English Partnerships is supporting the Regional Development Agencies
(RDAs) who have been charged with creating a series of action
plans aimed at speeding up brownfield delivery especially in the
four major growth areas.
SURPLUS PUBLIC
SECTOR LAND
Surplus Public Sector Land will form a key part of the National
Brownfield Strategy strategy. English Partnerships is working
closely with other public sector agencies such as Defence Estates,
the NHS and Rail Property, to maximise the potential of surplus
government assets especially in areas of housing shortages in
a bid to create more sustainable communities.
A key tool designed to ensure that information on surplus
public sector land is collated and is accessible, is The Register,
a comprehensive database maintained by English Partnerships on
behalf of the ODPM.
A wide cross-section of public sector organisations have
supplied information to the Register including Defence Estates,
Rail Properties Ltd, NHS Estates, The Highways Agency and The
Coal Authority. Once the disposing agency has provided English
Partnerships with details of the site for inclusion on the Register,
there is a 40-day window for public sector agencies and departments
to identify new uses for this land. If the sites can be used beneficially
elsewhere in the public sector they may be transferred at market
value and then be brought back into beneficial use.
To date nearly 20 public sector agencies have supplied details
of almost 850 sites, totalling more than 2,800 ha of land. Almost
300 sites are within the wider South-East.
RESEARCH AND
BEST PRACTICE
English Partnerships work closely with the BRE, in developing
and promoting the Environmental Sustainability agenda, including
facilitation of internal and external training initiatives. Research
and monitoring into the use of Photovoltaic has been encouraged
and realised with projects at Sandymoor, Runcorn, and Broughton
Atterbury hamlet in Milton Keynes.
English Partnerships have commissioned the development of
a number of "Best Practice Notes" into "Using Design
Guidance", "Inclusive Design", and "Modern
Methods of Construction". Our best practice research directly
responds to the key priorities outlined in the "Sustainable
Communities Plan".
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