Planning and Climate Change
Government stresses role of planning in climate change
campaign
A reformed planning system will have a key role in delivering
the UK's strategy for dealing with global warming, ministers have
stressed, as the Government published its promised draft Climate
Change Bill. The Bill sets out for the first time legally binding
targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and will
require the government to set carbon budgets, based on five-year
target periods.
At the same time the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (
Defra
)
has published a climate change strategic framework which highlights
the importance of the move to zero carbon development, underpinned
by "a planning framework that will support the move to zero carbon
through the way development is located, designed and planned,
including the greater use of renewable energy."
The
Defra
document stressed that the promised Planning White Paper, due
shortly, would "set out proposals to remove the barriers to new
low-carbon energy. Decisions on new energy investment, such as wind
farms, have national and international benefits beyond the locality
in which they are situated. The White Paper will propose ways of
speeding up decisions and ensuring projects of national importance
are decided nationally."
Chancellor Gordon Brown has emphasised the role of planning in a
keynote speech on climate change. He told environmental campaigners
and business leaders: "We will ensure our planning and transport
systems make alternatives to the car - walking, cycling and public
transport - easier and more convenient."
The Chancellor also promised that the Government would "improve
our planning system to speed up the process for major
infrastructure projects - including wind farms and waste disposal
facilities - while maintaining the democratic accountability that
is so important to the planning system."
© Planning Portal website
For more information see our Climate Change webpage.
This webpage was updated on 2/26/2008