Sustainability Draft Supplementary Planning Document

(16) 1 INTRODUCTION

Sustainability refers to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In the context of planning, sustainability refers to the development of policies, programs, and projects that are environmentally sound, socially just, and economically viable.

Sustainable planning takes into account the three pillars of sustainability:

• Environmental - protecting the natural environment and resources,
• Social - ensuring that everyone has access to basic needs such as housing, food, and healthcare, and
• Economic - creating a strong economy that can provide jobs and opportunities for everyone.

There are many ways to incorporate sustainability into planning. Some common approaches include:

By incorporating sustainability into our plans, we can ensure that our communities are healthy, resilient, and prosperous for generations to come.

The North Hertfordshire Local Plan (NHLP) was adopted in November 2022 and includes an objective to address climate change by improving opportunities for travelling by public transport, walking and cycling, using natural resources more efficiently, reducing water demand, securing high quality sustainable design and managing the flood risk.

On 21 May 2019, North Herts District Council (NHDC) passed a climate emergency motion. The declaration asserted the council's commitment toward climate action beyond current government targets and international agreements. In July 2023 the Council declared an ecological emergency identifying biodiversity and nature recovery as strategic priorities for planning policies for new development. This included a pledge to identify appropriate areas for habitat restoration and biodiversity net gain and to ensuring that development limits the impact on existing habitats.

Our Climate Strategy: 2021 – 2026 was reviewed in 2021 and outlines our key objectives:

• achieve Carbon Neutrality for the Council's own operations by 2030;
• ensure all operations and services are resilient to the impacts of climate change;
• achieve a Net Zero Carbon district by 2040; and
• become a district that is resilient to unavoidable impacts of climate change

This accords with the overwhelming national and international consensus that radical measures are required across the whole of society to reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions. In late 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a stark warning. It established that achieving the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement, by limiting warming to 1.5°C to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, will require action at an unprecedented pace and scale.

Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from the global economy are required by 2030, with net zero emissions by 2050. This enormous challenge can only be tackled by governments, businesses and civil society working together to take ambitious action to radically reduce emissions.

On 24 June 2019 the UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. The target will require the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Subsequently, the government published milestone targets for 2030 and 2035, relative to 1990 carbon emission levels:

• 68% reduction by 2030 (Nationally Determined Contribution, as communicated to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
• 78% reduction by 2035 (UK's Sixth Carbon Budget, enshrined in The Carbon Budget Order 2021)

Currently the built environment is responsible for approximately 25% of carbon dioxide emissions so it is imperative that this becomes an even greater focus for reducing emissions in that sector. While the planning system is not able to greatly influence the vast majority of buildings which have already been built, it is important to ensure that where the planning system has influence, such as with new development, that it is as sustainable as possible and avoids the need for future expensive retrofitting to make buildings more sustainable.

Climate change mitigation

Climate change mitigation requires the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Radical measures are required across the whole of society to reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions. In late 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established that achieving the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement, by limiting warming to 1.5°C to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, will require action at an unprecedented pace and scale.

Climate change adaptation

Even if the world manages to limit greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to cap global temperature rise to below 1.5°C, further climatic changes are still inevitable in the future as, according to the Met Office, approximately 1.0°C of global temperature rise has already occurred. The UK needs to manage the growing risks from climate change.

The Government climate change predictions in the UK Climate Projections 2018 report predict hotter, drier summers; wetter winters and more extreme weather events such as storms with attendant localised heavy rainfall.

Adaptation to predicted climate change therefore needs to encompass planning for higher risk of surface water flooding, more prolonged droughts leading to water stress on people, the environment and wildlife; and more frequent heatwaves leading to increased adverse health impacts on the population, especially on the more vulnerable groups, such as the elderly.

Planning policy provides an important mechanism for contributing to environmental sustainability in the built and natural environment^[1], including to reduce carbon emissions and address how the environment should be developed to allow for adaptation to a changing climate (also referred to as resilience).

The function of this Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) is to support and supplement the District's Local Plan policies, and national planning policy. Therefore, the adopted Local Plan policies should always be considered in conjunction with this SPD.

Scope of the SPD

This document is designed to provide further guidance and to set out what our expectations are for different forms of development when applying the Local Plan policies (see Table1). Appendix F provides a summary of the main sustainable construction requirements under both 'mitigation' to climate change (i.e. ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions – mainly CO₂) and adaptation to predicted climate change. These requirements are set out for the 5 development types covered by this document.

• The SPD identifies design and energy-saving/efficiency measures that can result in a development minimising greenhouse gas emissions and energy use and waste, and creating places that are amenable to biodiversity and adaptable to a changing climate (including through the integration of green infrastructure) and;
• It provides guidance on renewable and low-carbon energy solutions, for reduced reliance on fossil fuels and finite energy sources, and for efficient use of national grid energy;
• It considers potential solutions to water shortages and efficiencies requirements;
• It addresses the materials and methods used in construction; and
• Provides clear guidance for anyone applying for planning permission, or wishing to comment upon a planning application, as well as providing a consistent approach to assessing planning applications.

(2) Who is this SPD intended for?

This guidance document is for anyone involved in the development process, including landowners, developers/agents, designers, and householders considering any kind of schemes/development, including home conversions/extensions; town/parish councils and other interested parties commenting on proposals; and development management officers (DM) assessing applications. It is also a reference for anyone considering applying for permission for wind/solar energy (or other renewables/ low-carbon) farms/stations.

However, this guidance is not intended to be prescriptive and cannot substitute for the use of qualified architects, landscape architects, planners and environmental specialists where necessary.

The document also provides guidance (in chapters 2 and 3) for applicants and their consultants in terms of the evidence needed to comply with Local Plan policies and some technical information on different methods of meeting those requirements.

Appendices A-E provide sustainability checklists for the different development types with a summary table provided in Appendix F.

(1) Status of the SPD

This SPD has been prepared in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2012 and has undergone consultation with local groups and national organisations, in accordance with the Council's Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). It has also been subject to screening for Habitat Regulation Assessment (HRA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment.

Once adopted the information contained within the SPD can be a material consideration in the determination of planning decisions. The advice in the Sustainability SPD could be used and applied in different ways dependent on the scale and nature of the development:

1. As voluntary, good practice guidance and advice which is not formally assessed as part of the application. This might be most appropriate for small-scale developments such as household extensions by local residents;
2. As a self-assessment checklist completed and submitted by the applicant which is subject to a light-touch review by officers as part of the application process; and
3. As a formal assessment of the credentials of the development which is examined and reported on by officers as part of the application process and secured, where required and appropriate, by planning conditions or other measures.

The most appropriate approach(es) for implementing the SPD and associated thresholds will be further developed during the consultation process taking account of the views of residents and local planning agents.

The SPD does not form part of the Development Plan and so cannot introduce new planning policies or add unnecessary financial burdens on development. Local planning authorities are required to review and, if necessary, update their local plan policies within five years of adoption, if not sooner. The North Herts Local Plan was adopted in November 2022 and included a commitment to an early Local Plan review. This will provide the appropriate vehicle for any comprehensive review of policies. In the meantime this SPD sets out the 'direction of travel' to support currently adopted policies.

Whilst some of the sustainability principles contained in this SPD can be applied to all new developments regardless of size, some are only applicable to larger developments. Appendices A-F identify which elements of the SPD are applicable to the different types and sizes of development.

The SPD covers the 5 main types of developments listed below. Whilst we strongly support the need to retrofit existing building stock to make it more energy and water efficient the planning authority has very limited influence over existing building stock and consequently this document does not address this specific issue. Section 4 provides additional guidance on the retrofitting of historic buildings.

The five main types of development addressed in this SPD are:

• Major Residential development includes all new developments and residential conversions of ten homes or more (Appendix A).
• Minor Residential development includes all new developments and residential conversions of one or more dwellings and less than ten dwellings (Appendix B).
• Major Non-Residential development includes all new non-residential development which either provides additional floor space of at least 1,000sqm or is on a development site of at least 0.5ha. Also includes all new forms of both infrastructure and works associated with infrastructure projects (Appendix C).
• Minor Non-Residential development includes all new non-residential development which provides additional floor space above 250sqm but below 1,000sqm of floor space and on a development site below 0.5ha (Appendix D).
• Domestic Extensions, Outbuildings, and other Minor Operations (Appendix E)

Policy context

The SPD has been prepared in the context of National and local planning policies including the North Herts Local Plan (adopted Nov. 2022). The table below lists national and local policies and guidance of particular relevance to this SPD.

Table 1 - Policy and guidance context

^[1] National planning policy (NPPF, paragraph 7) sets out that the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and its relationship with the 17 United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development