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Baroness Hanham: My Lords, the best enlightenment would come from saying that we probably need a consolidation Act if all that legislation is floating about. I now understand why they were not all listed on the face of the Bill and I thank the Minister for his clarification. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Baroness Maddock moved Amendment No. 114:
- Page 21, line 16, at end insert—
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 114, I declare an interest as a non-executive director of a heating company.
The amendment would enable local authorities to better carry out their duties in promoting sustainable development through the efficient use of energy in new developments. I am grateful to the Town and Country
Since then, there have been several examples of where local authorities have difficulty in this area. For example, extensive legal opinions were necessary before the London Borough of Merton unitary development plan could be adopted. The policy in that plan was the establishment of a target of 10 per cent of building energy needs to be met from renewable sources on site. This may not be the perfect amendment, but its purpose is to clarify that, in the interests of sustainable development, such a policy is lawful and should be supported.
In the Government's consultation paper, Planning Policy Statement 1: Creating Sustainable Communities, four main aims for sustainable development are set out. The last two of those are effective protection of the environment and the prudent use of natural resources. Section 1.21 states:
It is not often that the interests of two things that one is doing in the House come together. I am on the European Union Select Committee, which is investigating climate change. I am sure that the Minister will know that Woking Borough Council has an extremely good record on reducing carbon emissions in a whole range of ways. Last week, Allan Jones, the energy services manager in Woking, came to the Committee. I am grateful to him for his good definition of sustainable energy. I will quote it to the House:
The importance of that for planning is that the proximity of new and existing industrial and commercial sites to each other is vital. A community-led approach to such projects would be needed. Local authority understanding of that concept and pro-active assistance in developing it are important.
Woking adopted the borough local plan on 27 August 1999. There were three important policies in that plan connected with sustainable energy use. Policy BE6 was energy conservation:
Those are in the local plan. In practice, no developer has implemented any of those policies. The only people who have implemented any are the council and the public-private joint venture energy services company. However good everyone's intentions are, the problem remains that councils are often challenged when they try to implement such policies. I know that from my own experience. The heating company that I am involved with is in Southampton, and planners get edgy when we put forward proposals and ideas in 106 agreements to try to get sustainable energy into a development—they say that they will be challenged and that they cannot do it. It is important that we get a lead from the Government on this to ensure that when people follow what we all believe to be right, they are backed up in law and that they are able to do it. It is vitally important, if we are to tackle climate change, and if we really want sustainable development. I beg to move.
Lord Marlesford: My Lords, we all believe in the sustainable use of energy. We all believe that it is desirable, taking a careful balance of costs—including environmental costs—versus benefits in the greater use of renewables. The greatest contribution that can be made and has been made to the better use of energy has been through the development of building regulations over the years, which have been extremely successful. A remarkably few years ago anything went, and there were wildly inefficient methods of heating houses. Now, building regulations require proper insulation standards, double glazing and so on.
That is the right way to go. The noble Baroness's proposal is several steps too far. It is impractical and undesirable. Although I can see where she is coming from, I would not propose to have another overall target and an interference with the best methods that developers may feel that they want to use. The right
Lord Chorley: My Lords, I rather agree with the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, but from a slightly different angle. The amendment talks about renewable resources, but 99 per cent of CHP schemes have nothing to do with renewable sources. The noble Baroness referred to the interesting things going on at Woking, which some of us know about, where CHP is used. Again, efficiency, which the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, talked about in terms of building regulations, is not covered under the amendment. The amendment focuses on a minute bit of sustainable energy and not on the wider picture. Frankly, it does not seem sensible.
Lord Howie of Troon: My Lords, I support the noble Lord on the issue of building regulations. That is the way to go about the change, rather than using the law. The idea underlying the amendment and the attitude is a bit like motherhood and apple pie. The weakness of the approach is, simply, that renewable energy sources, desirable though they may be, have one overwhelming weakness; that they do not produce much energy.
Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, my response will be somewhat inadequate in matching up to the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Maddock. I have a brief speaking note while the noble Baroness spent some time talking about the desirability of sustainable energy, renewables, the role of the local authorities and how the authority in Woking is tackling climate change. I was most impressed by what it is trying to do and I hope that other local authorities join it. I am sure they are because Woking cannot do it on its own.
The point most importantly made is that this is not the place to deal with a detail of policy—important though it is in encouraging the better, sustainable use of energy and getting local authorities, providers, builders and so forth in the right mindset. I am drawn towards the points made by the last three speakers in this short debate.
We believe that the issues are best covered in guidance so that planning authorities can best set their own targets through their own plans and can vary them according to the type or size of development. Draft planning policy statement 22, which was published for consultation on 5 November, covers planning policy in relation to renewable energy. The public consultation period for that paper ended a few weeks ago and the responses are currently being analysed.
Proposals for bringing renewable energy and buildings within the scope of PPS22 along the lines proposed by the noble Baroness have been made in the context of this consultation. The Government will consider those proposals most carefully alongside the
I am grateful for the amendment being tabled because it is a useful and timely reminder. I agree with the points made by the noble Lords, Lord Marlesford, Lord Chorley and Lord Howie, because they are right in saying that this is not the place to make the change. It is much more appropriate in guidance and we can take it on board in that respect. Furthermore, being in guidance it will have more flexibility.
I hope that the noble Baroness felt happy and satisfied in making good campaigning points in her argument, but will accept that the issue is best resolved in another way. We will all make more progress if it is and it is better that the issue is dealt with more flexibly.
"( ) Planning authorities may set targets in their development plans in respect of the proportion of the building's energy requirements on an application site to be supplied by renewable sources obtained on the same application site."
"Policies should reflect a preference for minimising the need to consume new resources over the lifetime of a development by making more efficient use or reuse of existing resources rather than making new demands on the environment; and for seeking to promote and encourage, rather than restrict, the development of renewable energy resources. Consideration should be given to encouraging energy efficient buildings, community heating schemes, and the use of combined heat and power in developments."
"Sustainable energy is anything that enables energy supplies to be made sustainable, either now or in the future, by putting in place such energy systems or infrastructures necessary to achieve a renewable energy future. A prime example of this is combined heat and power where the fuel may initially be a low carbon fuel such as natural gas which can be replaced later by a renewable fuel such as biogas, biomass or even hydrogen as used in fuel cells. The important issue here is the heat, chilled water and private wire networks serving buildings on local sustainable community energy systems which enables the easy replacement or refuelling of the primary energy generators some time in the future when fossil fuels become scarce or non-existent. Combined heat and power is particularly important since 70% of the UK's non transport energy needs are thermal and most renewable energy technologies are intermittent electricity generation only".
"The council will expect proposals for new development to take account of the need to conserve energy through appropriate location, design, layout and landscaping",
policy CUS8 was renewable energy:
"Proposals for the development of renewable energy sources will be considered favourably where there would be no material harm to the environment by reason of location, appearance, noise and traffic generation, nor result in the loss of land protected by other policies in the Plan",
and CUS9 was combined heat and power:
"The developments of combined heat and power stations that meet both the operational demands of the technology and the environmental policies of Local Planning will be permitted".
5.30 p.m.
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