Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

5. Climate Change

5.1 The impacts of flooding, overheating and other consequences of climate change will hinder the creation of vibrant, healthy and sustainable communities in Sandwell. The outcomes of climate change will also have serious impacts on vulnerable and deprived communities and those least able to respond.

5.2 In response to this, the Council declared a climate change emergency and adopted a climate change strategy in 2020, with the aims of reaching carbon neutrality across all Council functions by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality borough-wide by 2041.

5.3 Without comprehensive action, climate change will severely limit economic growth. However, the approaches now required present a significant opportunity to deliver a decarbonised and resilient economy that supports job creation.

5.4 Through the Climate Change Act 2008 and as a signatory of the Paris Agreement, the UK Government has committed to:

• reduce emissions by at least 100% of 1990 levels by 2050; and
• contribute to global emissions reductions aimed at limiting global temperature rise to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

5.5 Information from the Met Office^[77] indicates that under projections looking at potential climate change over land to the 2070s, a location in the middle of England is likely to experience changes in precipitation and temperature in both summer and winter^[78] equating to:

• Summer rainfall change
  41% drier to 9% wetter [low emissions scenario].
  57% drier to 3% wetter [high emissions scenario]
   
• Winter precipitation change
  3% drier to 22% wetter [low emissions scenario].
  2% drier to 33% wetter [high emissions scenario]
   
• Summer temperature change
  No change to 3.3 °C warmer [low emissions scenario].
  1.1°C warmer to 5.8 °C warmer [high emissions scenario]
   
• Winter temperature change
  -0.1 °C cooler to 2.4 °C warmer [low emissions scenario].
  0.7 °C warmer to 4.2 °C warmer [high emissions scenario]

5.6 Local planning authorities are bound by the legal duty set out in Section 19 of the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, as amended by the 2008 Planning Act, to ensure that planning policy contributes to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. According to recent guidance issued by the Town and Country Planning Association and the Royal Town Planning Institute,

The Section 19 duty is much more powerful in decision-making than the status of the NPPF, which is guidance, not statute. Where local development plan policy which complies with the duty is challenged by objectors or a planning inspector on the grounds, for example, of viability, they must make clear how the plan would comply with the duty if the policy were to be removed.^[79]

5.7 Chapter 14 of the NPPF addresses the duty of planning in helping to contend with a changing climate and the vulnerabilities it generates in the built and natural environments. This includes planning for zero and low carbon development, requiring renewable and low carbon energy supply, reducing emissions and greenhouse gases, the mitigation of flood risks and employing appropriate policy and design solutions to address rising temperatures, ventilation, the need for additional green infrastructure and the protection of the natural environment.

5.8 Addressing climate change using strategic policies and requiring development to meet and sometimes exceed current standards makes economic sense both for local authorities and for homeowners and businesses potentially impacted by climate change:

1. ensuring projects, plans and processes are resilient to climate change strengthens the ability to achieve identified objectives over the long-term, helping local authorities and other organisations achieve their wider plans and ambitions.
2. screening public and strategic regeneration plans for climate risks can make them more attractive to inward investors by ensuring mitigation and adaptation aspects are considered at an early stage, while ensuring buildings provide adequate heating and cooling supports workforce health and productivity;
3. appropriate adaptation and mitigation allow assets and activities to continue performing during climate changes and will help to protect occupiers and users of buildings to continue to use them during times of environmental stress, such as flooding;
4. pre-emptive adaptation action is generally more cost effective over time^[80] than the costs incurred in responding to the outcomes of extreme weather events;
5. through careful planning, adaptation actions can deliver multiple benefits to projects / activities, such as improving health and wellbeing, increasing property values, skills, and employment, reducing emissions, and supporting biodiversity.

5.9 The West Midlands Combined Authority declared a climate change emergency in June 2019. In July 2019, it committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2041. This means that the region will be working towards meeting these targets through the timescale of the Sandwell Local Plan.

5.10 To help Sandwell become a more efficient and resilient place, policies in the SLP will encourage development to:

1. improve energy efficiency and move towards becoming zero carbon, in accordance with national targets and with the aims of the West Midlands Combined Authority commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2041;
2. help decarbonise the transport system by locating developments sustainably to reduce new trips and encouraging less energy intensive and more sustainable modes of transport (as set out in the Transport Chapter);
3. ensure buildings and infrastructure are designed, landscaped, and made suitably accessible to help adapt to a changing climate, making efficient use of water, reducing impacts from natural hazards like flooding and heatwaves, and avoiding contributing to the urban heat island effect;
4. create a safe and secure environment that is resilient to the impacts of climate-related emergencies;
5. take an integrated approach to the delivery of strategic and local infrastructure by ensuring that public, private, community and voluntary sectors plan and work together. Factors which may lead to the exacerbation of climate change (through the generation of more greenhouse gases) must be avoided (e.g., pollution, habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity) and the natural environment's resilience to change should be protected.

Increasing efficiency and resilience

5.11 The Government has stated that all buildings need to be net zero carbon by 2050. Section 19 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004), Section182 of the Planning Act (2008), the Planning and Energy Act (2008), and Chapter 14 of the NPPF (2023) all empower local planning authorities to enforce policies that seek to reduce carbon emissions from new homes.

5.12 The NPPF (2023) states that plans should take a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change. As part of this, new development should be planned for in ways that can help to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, through careful consideration of matters such as its location, orientation and design. The following policies aim to ensure that future development address national energy and climate change objectives.

5.13 Policy SCC1 sets out how new development proposals will be required to demonstrate they are designed to maximise resistance and resilience to climate change through a range of design requirements

Justification

5.14 Buildings, services, and infrastructure need to be able to cope with the impacts of climate change. Part of this will relate to ensuring that development is able to cope with more intense rainfall, the possibility of flooding, heat waves and droughts. The design of development therefore needs to address shading, insulation and ventilation, surface water runoff and storage and the use of appropriate tree planting and landscaping, to futureproof schemes against more extreme weather conditions.

5.15 Where possible and appropriate, the retrofitting of residential and other properties to achieve higher standards of energy and water efficiency will be encouraged and supported.

5.16 This policy should be read in conjunction with Policy SCC6, which covers the use of renewable and low carbon energy and energy-saving measures. It should also be read in conjunction with Policy SDM1, which promotes good design including the management of water resources, and Policies SCC4 and SCC5, which look in more detail at the provision of SuDS and the control and mitigation of flooding.

5.17 Policies in the SLP demonstrate that adaptation to and mitigation of climate change can be achieved across all forms of development.

5.18 The Planning Practice Guidance section on climate change^[81] identifies examples of mitigating climate change, which promote low and zero carbon technologies, sustainable modes of transport and the use of innovative design and energy production.

5.19 The provision of trees and other elements of green infrastructure will be essential in helping to mitigate and adapt to changing climates; their positive impacts on air quality, heat reduction and ecological networks and habitats will be vital in helping to deliver sustainable and comfortable living and working environments across Sandwell. Development will be expected to increase local tree canopy cover through habitat creation, landscaping and biodiversity net gain. This is explained in more detail in Policy SNE3.

5.20 Examples of adapting to climate change include:

1. considering future climate-related risks when allocating development sites, to ensure risks are understood and accounted for over the development's lifetime;
2. considering flood risk in the design of developments;
3. considering the availability of water and water infrastructure, and design to promote water efficiency and protect water quality;
4. promoting adaption in design policies, developments and works in the public realm.

5.21 The UK generates 50-60 million tonnes of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste each year^[82]. The Green Construction Board published The Routemap for Zero Avoidable Waste in Construction in 2021 with support from Government^[83]. This recommends steps that could be taken to reduce construction and demolition waste, including giving first consideration to the retention and reuse of existing resources and buildings.

5.22 Whole life carbon emissions are the entire amount of carbon produced by buildings and infrastructure and can be divided into embodied and operational emissions. Embodied carbon refers to the carbon emissions that are released during the manufacture, transportation, construction and end of life phases of all buildings and infrastructure^[84]. The retention and reuse of existing resources and buildings can reduce the embodied carbon associated with a development project.