Sustainable Development

Boost for local renewable energy from new planning rules

A new wave of local renewable energy supply and community power schemes will get government backing today.

Changes to the planning system will mean all councils will be expected to provide for on-site renewable energy and local community energy schemes to help cut carbon emissions from new developments, Yvette Cooper said today, as she published a new Planning Policy Statement on Climate change.

Planners must now promote green growth. New planning rules on economic growth (PPS4), also published for consultation today, will expect councils to provide greater flexibility in their plans to allow different businesses to succeed and create jobs. Councils will be expected to give greater consideration to regeneration and economic factors including by identifying more sites which can be used flexibly if business needs change.

The Government is clear the planning system should do more to support jobs but should also deliver higher environmental standards at the same time. By publishing the climate change statement alongside the draft one for economic development the government is making clear that action on climate change must run alongside economic growth and increased housing.

The rules make clear that councils should be drawing up proposals to cut climate change which also support the increased housing targets as well as job and regeneration too.

The Government has already set a world-leading timetable for all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016. But we cannot stop at homes. A new report from the UK Green Building Council also published today, makes clear that new commercial buildings must move towards achieving zero carbon too.

The report, commissioned by Yvette Cooper, will say that industry should be set a similar long term timetable for achieving zero carbon. Commercial buildings currently account for 18 per cent of carbon emissions.

Ministers believe there is huge potential for local power to support not just new housing development, but new office and other commercial buildings too. The department is working with the UKGBC on a timetable to cut carbon emissions for non domestic buildings. The new planning rules will be expected to support that.

The planning rules will mean councils and developers should be considering things like solar panels, wind turbines or heat pumps that can generate energy from on the site of new development. They should also look at the potential for connecting developments to neighbouring community heating and power schemes that can serve an entire local community.

These plans build on the Merton rule which requires all new non-residential developments above a certain size to generate at least 10 per cent of their energy on-site from renewable sources or the Mayor of London's plans to double renewable's share of UK electricity supply from the 2010 target of 10 per cent to 20 per cent by 2020.

Councils will also have to think about the location of developments much more. The location of a development must now promote green growth where possible.

Councils also have a responsibility to plan in way that prepares for and responds the impact of a changing climate and its consequences - not only the effects which are felt today, but also those that can be anticipated in the future. Communities must be resilient to climate change and plans must provide green spaces and urban cooling.    

The priority for any new development continues to use Brownfield land and sites which are accessible for public transport. However the new rules will mean councils should consider where a development is located so that it can maximise the potential for renewable energy generation and provide enough flexibility to allow different businesses to succeed and create jobs.

This could mean making the most of sites which are south facing so they catch the sun, sites that could use windy areas nearby, sites over aquifers for ground source heating, or those near to business and industrial development to take advantage of surplus heat created by large office and economic developments. For example Barking CHP is linked to the power station.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said

"It's all about local power. If we are to reach the ambitious zero carbon standards we need a revolution in the way we heat and power our homes. We want councils to do more to back local green energy.

"We need the planning system to do more to back jobs, economic growth and regeneration but also to support higher environmental standards as we do so. Economic growth and environmental standards are not alternatives they need to go hand in hand.

"We need to be environmentally ambitious about all buildings, not just housing. We don't just need eco homes - we need eco offices, eco shops, eco pubs and clubs. And surprisingly the technologies to do it may be considerably more familiar than many people think. For example sites on 'the sunny side of the street' may be better for solar panels."

Moving towards a low-carbon economy is a huge challenge. It requires a revolution in the way that we design, heat and power our buildings, and a concerted effort from a huge number of organisations - from local authorities, to developers, to environmental groups and local communities themselves. It also requires collaborative and responsible working to ensure change takes place alongside delivering the additional homes as well as the new jobs and regeneration we need. The policy set out today provides a strong framework for that degree of co-operation.

Woking leads the way

to a sustainable future

In the war on global warming, the town of Woking is tilting at the establishment, but unlike Don Quixote, it is using windmills instead of charging at them. The town of 90,000 has slashed emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from civic buildings by 77 percent and its success is proving a model for giants like nearby London and other cities from Australia and Canada.

"We see ourselves as a pathfinder for others," said Mick Company, Woking's climate change project manager. "We are very proud of our successes. Our long-term strategy is to spread what we are doing here to the world."

Woking's main Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant provides heating, lighting and cooling to the main carpark, the town hall, a local hotel, a conference centre and an amusement arcade. It will soon power an art gallery and museum as well.

The plant burns gas to generate electricity, captures the exhaust heat -- most of which is lost from conventional power stations -- and uses it to supply hot water. It has a maximum capacity to generate 1,300 kilowatts of electricity, 1,600 KW of heat and 1,200 KW of cooling.

Woking is even testing self-powered street lights, comprising two arms with energy-generating solar panels and a cylindrical wind turbine as a head. On a dark night, the shapes remind one of the Spanish knight, tilting at his enemies.

For London's deputy mayor Nicky Gavron, Woking offers a glimpse of a possible revolution.

"We are aiming for a low-carbon London," said Gavron, who has hired Allan Jones, one of the designers of Woking's energy scheme, to work his magic in the capital, home to 8 million.

"We are looking at making a big dent in the next five years. This is not just a small Woking model. This is a huge scale-up," she told Reuters. "Every London borough is bigger than Woking."

The World Meteorological Organisation said this week that greenhouse gases, like CO2, had reached their highest ever levels in the atmosphere. Such gases, released from burning fossil fuels, are widely blamed for rising temperatures.

"Cities are centre stage. They are the most vulnerable to climate change but at the same time they make significant contributions to the problem," Gavron said. The United Nations estimates that by 2030, around 4.9 billion people, or 60 percent of the world's population, will live in cities.

Woking's green plan was driven initially by the need to save money, but the town found it was also cutting CO2 emissions.As well as the CHP plant, a large hydrogen fuel cell -- the first of its kind in Britain -- provides heat and power to the local leisure centre, small-scale CHP units provide heat and light elsewhere and roof-top photovoltaic cells, or solar panels, power sheltered accommodation for pensioners. Fuel bills in the buildings supplied are lower than in the past, and Woking even sells power back to the national grid.

Gavron's team want to take this basic model and adapt it to London, where they hope to cut CO2 emissions by 60 percent by 2050. One third of carbon emissions come from buildings.

They plan neighbourhood CHP plants and microgeneration systems such as solar, photovoltaic and small wind turbines.

Starting with new developments and civic buildings from police stations to town halls, Gavron's Climate Change Agency is also enlisting business in the battle to deliver clean power. London has signed up EDF Energy, subsidiary of Electricite de France, to help develop community energy schemes. "There is plenty for us there to lead by example. We can't preach to others if we don't get our own house in order," Gavron said. "After all, 70 percent of London's CO2 emissions are from buildings, and 44 percent of the total is from homes....We want to catalyse the market."

Gavron accepts costs are an obstacle -- whether developing the energy infrastructure or installing domestic wind turbines. She believes rising demand will bring down prices for the latter and a 25-year investment period should neutralise the former.

London is not alone in its search for greener pastures. Last year, officials from cities around the world met in London to discuss conserving energy. A core group from around 20 cities are now working to push the agenda forward, looking at building standards, energy efficiency, sustainability and security of power supply. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has volunteered his city to host a follow-up meeting."We are working very closely with Toronto," Gavron said. "We are using the Canadian energy efficiency model ... and working on a pilot for London."

Source - Reuters

Britain's first new-build

co-housing scheme

Thirty five families in Stroud are now living their green dream after the completion of Britain's first new-build co-housing scheme. Stroud is a former wool town, often referred to as the greenest town in the West, which has a thriving farmers' market, the largest LETS alternative currency scheme in the country, organic and whole-food cafés, natural health practices, and a growing network of talented artists and musicians. Co-housing started in Denmark in the 1960s, and since then has gained in popularity around the world, especially in the USA where there are now over 30 cohousing communities. It is a co-operative process where people create their own housing and combines privacy with community. Each household owns its own self-contained home yet can share facilities in a large common house.

The houses in Stroud are built of timber and financed by a sympathetic Building Society, and the project was put together by property developer David Michael, who discovered the two-acre site and brought people together to invest. They included singles and families looking for a better life and those actively seeking cohousing. After forming The Cohousing Company, Michael appointed the architects Jono Hines of Architype and Pat Borer of the Centre for Alternative Technology. The pedestrian layout is important to the design, with car-parking kept to the periphery, and pedestrian walkways link the houses and make for a safe, quiet environment. A sustainable urban drainage system deals with rainwater, which is conducted through a series of swales, ponds and rills planted with aquatic plants that run beside the walkways. Excess flows into a nearby stream, and in very heavy rainfall water temporarily fills a grassy soak-away area that doubles as a green.

Also important to the development is the high standard of energy-efficiency with triple-glazed windows and extra insulation, and are specified with green materials where possible. Some eco-features, such as district heating and reed-bed waste management, were not economic and had to be abandoned, as, reluctantly, so were rainwater recycling, lime render and the common house's turfed roof. But the project was successful in winning £320,000 finance from the DTI for large areas of photovoltaic roof tiles - the largest residential system in the UK.

Springhill Cohousing is at www. springhillcohousing.com; the UK Cohousing Network is at www. cohousing.org.uk; 'Designing Your Natural Home' by David Pearson is published by Gaia Books

What is cohousing?

Developments of between 20 and 40 homes that share communal facilities and green space are called cohousing. Residents live in their own private homes with kitchens, but share facilities including larger kitchens, dining rooms, laundry rooms and child care. Communities design their own developments to meet their specific needs, so no two projects are the same. Cohousing can be urban, suburban or rural, and varies from low-rise to town-houses and detached houses. Shared green space is important, whether for gardening, play or a place to gather. Houses are normally built close together to leave as much open land as possible for shared use. Old-fashioned neighbourhood values are the emphasis of developments, so houses are arranged to look out on a common garden shared by all. Communal areas are pedestrian, so neighbours see each other more and children can play safely. Communities are in charge of maintaining their own developments and are in charge of upkeep and repairs

There are distinct environmental advantages of cohousing as it is usually sited on a brown-field site. 50 Danish families came up with the idea of co-housing and organised the first community project in 1967. Five per cent of the Danish population now lives this way. Canada has seven completed communities with 15 more planned.

Communities  - not just homes

David Miliband - Minister of Communities and Local Government

The Thames Gateway gives us a fantastic opportunity for bold thinking on design, says David Miliband. The case for new homes is clear. Unless we step up the rate of house-building, only three in 10 of today's 10-year-olds will be able to afford their own homes when they are in their 30s - as opposed to half today and two-thirds in the late 1980s.

But we don't just want to build houses - we want to create communities. The Thames Gateway is a fantastic chance for us to do so. This is a brownfield development - 82% of the development is on brownfield land - but a greenfield opportunity to develop new kinds of public services. As I pledged to the Thames Gateway Forum last month, most residents will be within pram-pushing distance of new neighbourhood-level institutions and spaces: a children's centre; an extended primary school, open from 8am till 6pm; a GP surgery increasingly focused on public health within the area; a safer neighbourhood police team of six staff attached to a particular ward; and new communal spaces and facilities, from gardens to community centres. Exactly the sort of facilities Peter Hetherington wishes to see.

While people may well be put off by the tag of "affordable housing", they do want to live in homes they can afford, whether they buy or rent. While we must increase the supply of lower-cost housing, it's vital we create mixed communities - both for social justice and economic prosperity. Design is an important part of the answer. The deputy prime minister's competition to design the "£60k house" exemplifies the idea that low cost can go hand in hand with high-quality design. Design goes beyond housing, to designing communities - planning out crime, planning in green and public spaces, and ensuring everyone can play an active part in the community. With this comes proper spending on infrastructure. In the case of the Gateway, we have already invested £6bn in transport, health and education projects - for example on local train services on the Channel Tunnel rail link line, and on the joint campus facilities at the universities at Medway.

But it's not the government alone which should fund these projects. It is right that people benefiting from the increase in land value in areas like the Thames Gateway - house-builders and developers - should make a contribution to the infrastructure supporting new communities. This is why the government has proposed the planning-gain supplement, which will ensure a proportion of this increase goes back to local communities.

Resident participation does and will make a huge contribution to the success and strength of a community. We will work to bring private developers, councils and housing authorities together with local people.

So there is a "triple bottom line" from the government - the economy, social justice and the environment. Peter Hetherington looks glumly ahead to "lean years". I disagree - I am looking forward to delivering more and better homes in strong communities, in the Thames Gateway and beyond.