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Planning to combat climate change in London

As the second week of the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference draws to a close in Madrid, Assistant Planner, Luke Sumnall and Director, Sustainability, James Blake look at how the New London Plan seeks to address the issue and what this means for London.

In a year when Extinction Rebellion protests brought parts of the capital to a standstill and few months have passed without extreme weather events and bush fires in the global news, there has been a lot of focus on how the Government will meet its target of being Net Zero Carbon by 2050. With Government figures indicating that our homes contributed almost a fifth of the UK’s CO2 Emissions in 2018, it is not surprising that significant changes in the planning and development industry are expected.

Much press attention has been given to the Goldsmith’s Street development in Norwich, which is the largest Passivhaus Development in the UK, and has just won the RIBA Stirling Prize for 2019. The development, which comprises nearly 100 social housing units, has demonstrated it is possible to deliver housing which is well-designed, affordable and environmentally friendly, and has now set a benchmark for such housing in the UK.

The adoption of the New London Plan is expected in spring 2020 and will extend the ‘zero carbon’ standards, in force for residential development since 2016, to non-residential development. New energy efficiency standards are also proposed, requiring a 10% CO2 reduction through efficiency measures for dwellings and a 15% CO2 reduction for non-residential development, which contributes towards the minimum 35% on-site CO2 saving.

However, given that the Government’s current Future Homes Standard consultation proposes a national 31% CO2 reduction target for all new development via Building Regulations Part L, and the removal of planning authorities' ability to set their own standard, the future status of the London Plan’s 35% CO2 target may already be in question.

The requirement to assess and report construction stage CO2 emissions is also introduced – an increasingly important emissions source from new development as distinct from operational emissions (where significant CO2 savings have already been made). The new Plan opens up the possibility for London Boroughs to increase the cost for offsetting CO2 emissions not addressed on-site from £60 to £95 per tonne, an increase of almost 60%. 

The Plan also recognises the critical role that green infrastructure will play in increasing London’s capacity to adapt to climate change; and through the Plan London becomes the second UK city, after Southampton, to introduce an Urban Greening Factor, to assess the appropriate level of green infrastructure that a development should deliver.

To mitigate the threat climate change poses to much of the UK’s native wildlife, the requirement for developments to secure net biodiversity gain is also introduced, meaning development resulting in a loss of biodiversity must provide compensation that is of an overall greater biodiversity value than that which is lost. Additionally, with the UK suffering record heat waves in the last two summers, exacerbated in London through the urban heat island effect, the Plan reinforces the requirement for major residential development to undertake a detailed assessment of the risk of dwellings overheating.

The Inspectors Report on the New London Plan has found that the policies relating to climate change are consistent with Government policies, and “will help London to adapt to climate change and move towards becoming a zero carbon city”. However, the report does conclude that delivering the Mayor’s desired level of growth within the existing urban boundary may not be sustainable, and crucially recommends that a Green Belt Review is undertaken in future to potentially accommodate this. Additionally, as we have questioned in a previous article, these new environmental requirements all bring in to debate the ability for development to fully intensify and optimise the use of London’s land.

With many commentators at the Madrid Conference reporting that policy makers aren’t going far enough to address the urgency of the climate crisis, and with day two of the conference focussed on the role cities have in decarbonisation, we will no doubt see much more discussion in the industry around climate change and the sustainable growth of London in the coming year and beyond.

For more information on climate change and planning in London, please contact James Blake or Luke Sumnall.

12 December 2019