Rising to the climate challenge - the role of housing and planning within councils

With the worst of the pandemic hopefully behind us it is now time to refocus on addressing the longer-term policy imperative of addressing climate change.

Whichever way you look at this issue the scale of transition is enormous; this will require different spheres of governance in the UK to not only recognise the legitimacy of each other’s role, in pursuit of the drive to net zero, but also to work closely together in cooperation and collaboration.

One area where this approach is needed more than ever is in master planning the transformation of local place in terms of sustainable transport, energy systems, developing new build homes and retrofitting existing properties.

APSE’s new research with the Town and Country Planning Association – ‘Rising to the climate challenge: The role of housing and planning within councils’, makes important recommendations as to how the system could be better aligned to boost the progress many councils are making in pursuit of their own declarations of intent on tackling climate change. It also identifies a number of system blockages that hinder current action.

At government level specific national guidance around acceptable climate change approaches within local plans would give councils confidence in being more demanding of developers. National Planning Inspectorates should also have climate change adaptation embedded in their priorities; this would reduce concern about decisions being overturned on appeal.

Current policy on Permitted Development Rights continues to work against a co-ordinated approach at local level on reshaping place and making developers contribute to this process. This needs to change with council powers restored to ensure significant conversions once again go through the planning process.

Council planning services also need financial resources in order to develop the professional and technical skills required in pursuit of climate goals. There is also a need to build wider skills across local authorities and local supply chains to create capacity in local economies.

Overall local authorities’ fundamental role, through housing and planning, in delivering on government ambition on climate change and the clearly linked policy of levelling up, needs better recognition. Whilst developer contributions will help some areas, funding streams will be required for areas with lower value housing; as markets will show little interest here and we must avoid continuing to build housing that will require retrofitting later.

It will take the efforts of national, regional and local governments, working together, if we are to come anywhere close to being successful in transforming local place in a sustainable way. Let’s work together on the most important agenda of our time.