SC(3) CR-Plan 16
Sustainability Committee
Inquiry into Carbon Reduction in Wales: Carbon Reduction via Planning
Response from RSPB Cymru
RSPB Cymru is Europe’s largest wildlife charity with over one million members, with over 50,000 of them living in Wales. The Society manages one of the largest conservation estates in the UK, covering more than 100,000 hectares; 19,000 of these in Wales. Much of RSPB Cymru’s reserve land in Wales is farmed, including the 4,500 ha. Ty Llwyd farm in the Vyrnwy estate, which is managed as commercial organic farm in partnership with Severn Trent Water. We protect and enhance habitats such as upland and lowland farmland, heather moorland, coastal heath, wet grassland, estuaries and reedbeds, and our reserves help to protect many rare and threatened birds.
Our planning staff work with Local Authorities and developers to identify the impact on our important birdlife of development proposals and development plans and promote options which avoid, minimise, mitigate environmental damage and enhance biodiversity through the planning system. RSPB Cymru is grateful for the opportunity to give evidence to the Sustainability Committee on the role of planning in carbon reduction in Wales and we welcome the Committee’s scrutiny of this crucial issue
General Introduction
1.1 RSPB Cymru is of the view that the initial recommendations of the Committee are somewhat narrowly focused. The town and country planning system in Wales is one of the most powerful public policy tools available to move Wales nearer to sustainability in general, and to reduce carbon emissions in particular. We concur with the Committee that energy generation, (both centralised and de-centralised), will play an important role in attaining the One Wales target of 3% reduction in areas of devolved competence, however a far more fundamental role of the town and country planning system is the location of development i.e. the production of a sustainable pattern of development which reduces the need to travel and journey-distances.
1.2 A second general point is that there are a number of powerful planning tools and good practice examples which are available to the Welsh Assembly Government and/or the Local Authority sector, but that these tools are seldom utilised in "real world" situations. We believe that this is due to a culture of excessive bureaucratic caution and the lack of a widespread understanding of the gravity of climate change. The challenge the Welsh Assembly Government faces is to break through this caution, even if this means making (or support others in the making of) hard and even unpopular decisions in pursuit of climate change objections. There will be a need to make use of some of these planning tools mandatory, through a strong lead being taken by the Welsh Assembly Government, via Planning Policy Wales, Technical Advice Notes (TANs) and (Ministerial Interim Planning Policy Statements) MIPPS, for example.
1.3 Whilst RSPB Cymru fully concurs with the National Assembly for Wales’ concern over climate change, we fundamentally believe that measures aimed at mitigating climate change should not come at the cost of damage to or loss of important wildlife resources. Climate change is perhaps the clearest indication of our failure to live sustainability; biodiversity loss is another symptom, and we must be careful not to compound the problems we are facing. The pursuit of sustainable development means attaining simultaneous benefits
to the three objectives of - Environment, Economy and Society.
2 - What particular actions do you think the Welsh Assembly Government should be taking to ensure that the land use planning system in Wales encourages greater progress towards the achievement of carbon reduction targets?
2. Targets:
2.1 We recommend that the Welsh Assembly Government should make the setting of targets for carbon reduction mandatory for Local Planning Authorities in Wales. The modelling of carbon emissions had now reached the level of sophistication such that baseline emissions can be disaggregated both spatial and sectorally. Targets in relation to Welsh, UK and EU targets should be set relative to those baselines, at national, Wales Spatial Plan "Area" level and Local Planning Authority level, and it should be mandatory that Local Planning Authorities, in their LDP and development controls decisions should show how they intend to meet those targets. "Local Development Plan's Wales" (page 10) states that targets for LDP should be set, which will assist in annual monitoring, but neither it nor the "LDP Manual" states that climate change must be the subject of target setting and monitoring. Whilst the sustainability appraisal (SA) of the LDP must include "relevant aspects of the current state of environment and their likely evaluation without the plan", in practice, this does not translate into a full set of carbon reduction targets. In any event, this advice relates to the SA of the plan only, and not to the plan itself, and the Local Planning Authority is at liberty to not take up any recommendations made by the SA. This is clearly inadequate, and has resulted in most LDP's in Wales not having binding targets for carbon reduction.
2.2 Similarly, the Wales Spatial Plan (WSP) update and associated Area plans and Sub-regional Spatial Strategies do not have binding targets in terms of carbon reduction. Indeed the Area plans and associated emerging Sub-Regional Spatial Strategies enshrine a number of major carbon-increasing developments in them (detailed below) and it is unclear how this will be reconciled with the overall aim of low-carbon regions. There is perhaps an unspoken and worrying assumption that some Spatial Plan areas are able to do more for emissions reduction than others, thereby allowing increases in some areas.
Recommendation 1:
RSPB Cymru recommends that binding targets (and baseline) for carbon reduction, disaggregated sectorialy, be set for LDP's and for the WSP Areas. In terms of the former, the degree to which it is predicted that those targets will be attained should be included in the test of "soundness". The Inspector, when carrying out his Examination into the LDP, should direct the plan not to be adopted if he doubts that the targets can be attained. Similarly, the National Assembly for Wales should not approve the next review of the WSP or Area Plans (including Sub-Regional Spatial Strategies), if it cannot be shown how targets that have been set will be attained.
2. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of LDP's and the WSP:
2.1 RSPB Cymru supports the SEA Directive and the fact that the Welsh Assembly Government accepts that LDP's and the WSP (plus Area work and Sub-Regional Spatial Strategies) are captured by the Directive. However, there are three weaknesses in the way the LDP's and the WSP approach SEA:
2.2 There is no requirement that SEA's include recommendations to the LPA. This means that many LPA's interpret the SEA as being merely a "commentary" on the LDP. This is particularly important for proposed allocations which may be carbon-increasing, either due to their location, or to the car-borne or lorry-borne transport they generate. In our experience, the vast majority of SEA's of LDP's do not include recommendations on proposed allocations.
2.3 Inadequate mitigation requirements: The SEA Directive requires that, where a plan formulator fails to pursue the most environmentally acceptable option, reasons must be given, and mitigation provided. In our experience, mitigation for carbon increasing developments or policies have never been provided in respect of a development plan in Wales.
2.4 The Interface between SEA and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) :
Recommendation 2:
The Welsh Assembly Government should amend the SEA (Wales) Regulations in respect of LDP's to ensure that it is mandatory that recommendations are made by the SEA in respect of all allocations, and that there should be a strong presumption in favour of accepting such recommendations. In exceptional cases, where other material considerations clearly outweigh the need to reduce carbon emissions, then mitigation should be required to off-set the impact of such allocations.
This third weakness in the way SEA Directive is applied in respect of LDPs is that many SEAs attempt to absolve themselves of the responsibility for making recommendations to remove a proposed allocation from a plan, by stating that environment concerns (such as carbon reduction) should be addressed at the application (EIA) stage. However, there will be many instances where no amount of changes in design at the project stage will remove the carbon-increasing character of a development proposal (for example a highway or airport proposal), therefore this approach is fundamentally flawed. Furthermore, once a site becomes an allocation in an adopted development plan, the principle of its development is established, and therefore an EIA will have no impact on whether that site is developed.
Recommendation 3:
RSPB Cymru recommends that the Welsh Assembly Government issues guidance on the interface between SEA and EIA, stating clearly that SEAs which attempt to pass on responsibility for making decisions on potentially carbon increasing allocations to the EIA stage will result in the LDP being called in by the Welsh Assembly Government and/or the Welsh Assembly Government will direct that it be revised.
2. The Planning Act 2008:
Recommendation 4:
RSPB Cymru recommends that the Welsh Assembly Government plays an active role in the development of National Policy Statements, to ensure that they do not create a national (UK) policy context which is conducive to the permitting of carbon-increasing Major Infrastructure Projects. In addition they should ensure that opportunities for the development of Major Infrastructure Projects which promote carbon reduction are maximised (provided that this does not damage important wildlife resources).
2. The Location of Development:
2.1 RSPB Cymru is of the view that one of the fundamental powers of the town and country planning system in Wales in respect of carbon reduction is to control the location of development. By providing a sustainable landuse pattern which concentrates developments (housing, retail, leisure and employment) within settlements, and especially in "town centre" locations, the planning system can help to promote a situation where people live, work and carry out there leisure activities including shopping, in the same location, thus reducing the need to travel and journey lengths. In recent decades, national planning policy has reduced the vitality and viability of town and city centres, through permitting retail development which can primarily only be accessed by private car. Out of town 'employment development’ (such as business parks) means that employment is also in unsustainable locations, and the growth of "edge of centre" or even "out of town" housing has resulted in "hollowed out" town and city centres, with a concomitant increase in carbon emissions, as people need the private car for all their activities. High quality, frequent, regular and seamless public transport is usually absent from these developments, and even if it were present, research shows that without demand management (see below) people will use the private car no matter how generous public transport provision is.
Recommendation 5:
Planning Policy Wales is amended to provide a much stronger lead on the location of developments. For example, the way in which it interprets the sequential test (the way in which developers must show that they have considered potential locations in or near town centres first, before considering edge of centre or out of town locations) should be strengthened to ensure that all suitable town centre locations are utilised before any edge of centre locations.
2.1 LDP's Wales should be amended by the Welsh Assembly Government to remove the "Candidate Sites" stage of LDP formulation. Under this stage in plan formulation, the Local Planning Authority invites developers to submit sites which they view as candidates for development. The LPA then chooses the required number of sites from this portfolio to attain its required level of development. This means that developers decide upon the location of development rather than the Local Planning Authority, using planning tools such as the sequential test referred to above and urban capacity studies (see below) for example to identify those locations which will reduce the need to travel, and thereby reduce carbon emissions.
2.2 RSPB Cymru recommends that a TAN on climate change, including a section on carbon reduction, should be produced to replace the existing climate change Compendium. RSPB Cymru does not agree that use of a Compendium is the best way forward in terms of advice over planning policy. Whilst it is accepted that para 6 of the draft Compendium (p 34) states that the compendium will have the status of national planning policy advice similar to a TAN, in practice this cannot be the case in most instances, because of the way in which the compendium is drafted, with reliance on exhortation rather than strong and clear advice. For example, the section on Supplementary Planning Guidance, whilst welcome, does not actually state it is a requirement to produce SPG on sustainable building. Given the tight budgetary constraints on the local authority sector in Wales, there will be many local planning authorities who will not produce SPG unless there is a clear requirement to do so.
2. Environmental impacts:
2.1 The Role of Biodiversity in Carbon Reduction: There is by now an established body of research which sets out the key role which natural and semi-natural habitats can play in climate change mitigation, and therefore how such habitats are strategic resources in efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
2.2 Peatlands: Recent research has highlighted the carbon and water storage properties of upland peatlands. The Stern Review recommends that, at the global level, land managers can play a vital role by contributing around 10 per cent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to keep global temperature rise at a relatively safe level. The amount of carbon stored in the UK’s peatlands is equivalent to at least three years of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions. There is more carbon stored in the UK’s peat than in all the forests of Britain and France combined.
2.3 Flood Storage: Recent research and practice has identified the important role which sustainably managed floodplains can play as flood storage during storm and flooding incidents
Recommendations 6:
A clear statement of the strategic environmental importance of such habitat types in needed. This would include the need to protect and positively manage them to maintain/enhance their function in climate change mitigation and adaptation, the requirement that LDP's identify their extent and location on the Proposals Map, and the statement that they are a material consideration in development control.
Planning Policy Wales should be amended to establish a strong presumption against development which compromises the ability of such habitats to mitigate for climate change.
A statement that the town and country planning system will be employed to ensure that opportunities to bring such habitat types back into sustainable management will be maximised.
The next review of the Wales Spatial Plan, and any reviews of Area plans and Sub-Regional Spatial Strategies should establish a key role for these plans in expressing such spatial environmental opportunities for the use of habitat management to bring about carbon-reduction (and climate change adaptation) in each WSP Area, to be fed through into LDP's, and to guide public and private investment.
2. Supplementary Planning Guidance
Recommendation 7:
The Welsh Assembly Government should make the primary production of Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) on design, and the production of development briefs for all allocations over certain threshold quantitative levels, mandatory as part of the LDP formulation process. SPG on design is important because it requires the Local Planning Authority to set out how design matters will be viewed by it when deciding upon planning applications. This will benefit both developers and people who have a legitimate interest in development proposals.
Development briefs perform a vital function in requiring the Local Planning Authority to set out exactly what is required of the developer of an allocation in terms of how he must address the agenda of carbon reduction, and again can be used by those who wish to examine the merits of an application from that perspective.
2. Housing:
2.1 There are a number of planning tools which the Local Planning Authorities should use in order to make a full contribution to carbon reduction:
2.2 Urban Capacity Studies: By identifying and maximising the urban capacity of each settlement, the local planning authority would be able to foster a compact urban form which reduces the need to travel for work and journey lengths
2.3 Public Transport Accessibility Levels Studies: These consist of zoning the LPA according to public transport accessibility and allocating land accordingly.
2.4 Density of Development: Having identified the most sustainable locations for development in using the tools described above, and actively pursued the levering out of the appropriate portfolio of sites, elevated density levels should be ascribed to housing allocations. Housing development in Wales over the last ten years has been of the order of 20-25 dwellings per hectare (DPH), whilst PPS3 (England) for example, set a range of densities, according to location. This will have the effect of mitigating for climate change because, at an average density of 40 DPH for example, 50% more housing per hectare, compared with a DPH of 20 can be located in the most sustainable locations, obviating the need to allocate in unsustainable locations.
2.5 At present, reference in Planning Policy Wales to the Assembly Government's vision for housing including :-
"Greater choice for people over the type of housing …they live in" (para 9.1.1)
acts as a block to this approach, and this should be modified via a MIPPS by the addition of
"…. provided that this is compatible with the requirements to foster a sustainable land use pattern”.
2.6 Job Density: An analogous approach is required for job density. A new climate change TAN should set a range of job densities for town centre and edge of centre locations. Employment development to be allocated at town centre locations should be assigned at elevated levels of job density, with lower levels at edge of centre locations.
2.7 Traffic Impact Assessment and Green Transport Plans: It should be a requirement that developers assess the trip -generating potential of all proposed employment development over a certain quantifiable threshold size as part of the application process and there should be a requirement to produce a Green Transport Plan, with targets for both employees and users of the sites.
Recommendation 8:
RSPB Cymru recommends that the Welsh Assembly Government amends "LDP Wales" to make the use of the above tools a mandatory part of LDP formulation. In addition to this, the results of these studies should be the major material consideration in the location of allocations in the LDP.
2. Carbon Increasing Developments:
2.1 There are currently a number of major development proposals in Wales, which will have the effect of increasing carbon emissions, potentially significantly. Yet these major proposals requiring the consent of the Welsh Assembly Government, through a number of consent regimes. Examples of these include the proposed new M4 and other major highway schemes and the M4 Junction 33 International Business Park. Policy must be consistent in the Welsh Assembly Government in order to drive forward leadership in the field of carbon reduction. Rather than make explicit the nature of the choice facing us, the Assembly in these cases has sought to play down or ignore the carbon emissions implications.
Recommendation 9:
RSPB Cymru recommends that in instances where Welsh Assembly Government consent is required major development proposals which increase carbon should be refused. At the very least, an explicitly linked carbon mitigation/savings programme should be costed into the development and implemented at the same time.
2. Low Carbon Regions:
Recommendation 10:
RSPB Cymru recommends that the Welsh Assembly Government commissions a study into what public policy tools would need to be employed to bring about a low carbon region, as well as what each WSP Area's baseline geographical and sectoral emissions are at present. A visioning report should also be produced which sets out in detail what a low carbon region would look like. The Welsh Assembly Government should then charge each WSP Area structure with setting in train policies and proposals to bring that vision into reality in each Area.
Transport: See our answer to Question 6
What particular actions do you think the Local Planning Authorities in Wales should be taking to ensure that the land use planning system in Wales encourages greater progress towards the achievement of carbon reduction targets?
2. Regrettably, there is little evidence that since the acceptance of the concept of Sustainable Development in governance in 1992, and the increased awareness of climate change as a global environmental, social and economic problem, the Local Authority sector had grasped opportunities to combat climate change through carbon reduction. Indeed, with some honourable exceptions, the sector's approach can be characterised as a "business as usual", with highway construction, the promotion of an unsustainable development patterns and major traffic-generating development, low density of development, little awareness of the role of natural systems in carbon reduction, and resistance to new renewable energy development. The Welsh Assembly Government's approach to the Local Authority Sector has thus so far been one of exhortation, rather than a requirement to act decisively in pursuit of deep and radical cuts in carbon emissions in the face of possible public opposition.
3. For this reason the majority of RSPB Cymru's evidence concentrates on making mandatory existing good practice from Wales and beyond, as there is little evidence that the voluntary spreading of good practice has had a material impact on the Local Authorities Sectors approach to carbon reduction. However, there are a number of fields where the Local Planning Authority should take the lead, in particular the training of both Officers and Members. It is important that both Officers and Members are required to complete training and awareness raising in respect of climate change and carbon reduction. Development control and Planning Policy decisions by both officers and members often leave much to be desired in terms of such matters.
What are your views on the Assembly Government’s revised proposals for planning for climate change? In particular, do they go far enough in implementing the previous recommendations of the Committee?
2. Please see above comments on the Climate Change Compendium-
What changes to the planning system are needed to ensure that low carbon technologies are introduced more extensively into residential properties in Wales?
Recommendation 11:
Whilst we welcome the commitment set out in the MIPPS to ensure that new residential development reaches Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, we feel that the Welsh Assembly Government should go further by initiating a process and programme which would enable existing dwellings to be retrofitted to reach Level 3.
What needs to be done to ensure better co-ordination between land-use planning and transport planning?
2. There are a number ways in which the land use planning system in Wales should in our opinion, contribute to carbon reduction in respect of the transport sector.
2.1 Demand Management: It is now an established tenet of transport planning that, no matter how generous the provision of public transport is, use of the private car will not decline unless demand management measures are introduced. It is therefore vital that the nettle of demand management is grasped by the Welsh Assembly Government, even if it is unpopular in some quarters. The town and country planning system has a key role to play in demand management in the following areas:-
2.2 Ensuring that major new highways are not permitted.
2.3 Exerting downward pressure on car parking standards generally, and those associated with new development in particular, requiring instead commuted sums for public transport from developers.
2.4 Insuring that retail employment, housing and leisure development is located in town centre locations.
Recommendation 12:
The Welsh Assembly Government should issue revised guidance as an annex to TAN 18 (Transport) setting out new, lower national car parking standards for various situations.
Does the Welsh Assembly Government’s new transport strategy, One Wales: Connecting the Nation give sufficient emphasis to this issue?
No comment
What are your views on the current and proposed planning regimes for the consideration of large-scale energy projects in Wales?
No comment, although we have referred to this in our evidence to the Sustainability Committee on the Marine Bill
What changes to Technical Advice Note 8 (Planning and Renewable Energy) would you wish to see?
15.1 Renewable energy generation is only one tool in the toolbox of carbon reduction. Energy efficiency and energy conservation are equally important if Wales is to make the deep and radical cuts in carbon emissions which are required. RSPB Cymru welcomes the forthcoming Welsh Assembly Government Energy Efficiency Strategy but is of the view that it should have been produced before the draft Energy Route Map in order to provide this important wider context.
15.2 The RSPB is very supportive of the concept of TAN 8, i.e. the spatial expression on a Wales-wide scale of broad locations for onshore windfarms. We are also broadly supportive (with some exceptions - see below) of the methodology employed to generate the 7 Strategic Search Areas (SSA’s) in Wales i.e. the multi-sieving process which "sieved out” important constraints at the strategic level, so that zones which "fell through” the sieve became areas within which there is a general presumption in favour of windfarm development.
15.3 We are supportive of the targets set out in the draft Energy Route Map for onshore wind generation (albeit that the way in which the document sets these out is open to different interpretations)
Recommendation 13:
We recommend that the Welsh Assembly Government identifies the areas needed to attain these targets using broadly the same methodologies as those used in the 2005 version of TAN 8. We are strongly of the view that because it employs a rational and defensible methodology, it is the best way to identify the land needed for this use.
Industry bodies have at times been critical of TAN 8 (2005) because of a perceived lack of momentum towards attaining the targets as a result of the spatial approach employed by the TAN. However, it is important to bear in mind that this spatial approach was new to Wales, and remains a unique best practice example to avoid some of the most sensitive locations for birdlife, which the RSPB advocates throughout the UK and beyond. A learning process was put in train with the advent of TAN 8, and many of the initial problems are now being overcome. Many local planning committees refused consent for development proposals against Officer Recommendations, and as these applications are now being permitted on Appeal there has been a reduction in this practice throughout Wales. Even taking these two problems into account, consent rates in Wales are far in excess of those in England, where the old, "scattergun" approach is still employed.
15. Although we are supportive of TAN 8 and the methodology employed to generate the SSAs, there are some very important modifications which should, in our view, be made to that methodology to ensure that it is fit for purpose for the next round of SSA generation:-
16. We still affirm that Natura 2000 sites should remain "absolute constraints” in the methodology. The total area covered by the SSA’s is only 5.7% of the land surface of Wales, and the Welsh Assembly Government’s very ambitious initial target will have been attained without recourse to the lengthy and expensive legal processes required to progress development proposals in or affecting Natura 2000 sites. RSPB Cymru is fully confident that the further targets set out in the draft Energy Route Map can also be attained whilst retaining Natura 2000 sites as absolute constraints, and look to the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that this happens.
17. It is important to bear in mind also that SSA’s should not merely avoid Natura 2000 sites, but ensure that they do not abut them or are in the vicinity of them, as the legal tests relating to them extend to "plans or projects” which may have an effect on them, not merely which are located within them.
18. Important Bird Populations on nationally important (SSSI) and outside Designated Sites: Outside of the internationally important sites, there will still be areas that are not suitable for windfarm development as a result of the nationally (Wales and UK) important populations of bird species of acknowledged conservation concern. Such places are unsuitable as they usually constitute fragile wetland systems holding birds whose ecology renders them vulnerable to damage from windfarms, including disturbance and collision-risk and it would be sensible to exclude such areas an SSA. An example of such an area is the Mynydd Hiraethog SSSI and RSPB Cymru would recommend that this area is excluded from the review.
Recommendation 14:
Carrying out broadly the same multi-sieving process employed by the 2005 version, with the modifications referred to above.
Add detail to the section of the Community Benefit as outlined above.
15. Community Benefit:
15.1 RSPB Cymru is strongly supportive of the way in which Community Benefit is referred to in the 2005 version of TAN 8, viewing this as a useful means of capturing some of the non-spatial 'disbenefits’ of SSA approach. However there are some major flaws in the way in which this has been enacted in Wales, leading, in our view, to actions which threaten to bring the town and country planning system in Wales into disrepute.
15.2 It has been our experience over many years’ involvement in windfarm development in Wales and beyond, that there is no overarching rationale for the disbursement of Community Benefit. This has meant that the recipients of such funds tend invariably to be "those who shout the loudest”. This has led to the situation whereby in the vast majority of cases the environment loses out almost completely. This is in spite of the fact that the generalised 'disbenefits’ of windfarm development fall disproportionately heavily upon the environment. To make matters worse, there have been many instances where such benefits have fallen to individuals rather than organisations, and it is these two issues which bring the town and country planning system into disrepute vis a vis onshore windfarms in Wales.
15.3 We would like to stress that we are not seeking preferential treatment for the environment, merely that each leg of the "sustainable development stool" receives equal and fair treatment. This would go a long way towards restoring the standing of windfarm development in Wales, and reduce the controversy which has dogged its development thus far. Neither are we seeking to remove the right of local communities to decide upon how such funds should be spent-merely that the disbursement of such funds should fall equally into these categories. It may be of interest to the Committee to know that the RSPB has carried out a habitat master-planning process for Denbighshire and Conwy Councils, which sets out in map form the broad preferred locations for the utilisation of "Environmental Community Benefit", in terms of the broad habitats types which should be restored in these locations. This has been accepted by both local Planning Authorities. Again it should be stressed that the RSPB neither owns nor has control over land within the Clocaenog Forest SSA.
Recommendation 15:
RSPB Cymru recommends that further detail is added to the revised TAN, which establishes the principle of an equal, three-way split between environmental, socio-economic, and educational Community Benefit.
Mike Webb, Senior Planning Officer, RSPB Cymru
