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5. Climate Change Policy

5.1 The NPPF states that mitigating and adapting to climate change, including moving to a low carbon economy, is part of the role of the planning system. It recognises that planning can help shape places to secure radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, minimise vulnerability and provide resilience to the impacts of climate change, and support the delivery of renewable and low carbon energy and associated infrastructure. This is fundamental to the achievement of sustainable development.

5.2 Sustainable development is at the heart of the Local Plan. Through the Local Plan the Council is seeking to create communities that secure reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through the location, mix and design of development, provide resilience to the impacts of a changing climate, support the delivery of renewable energy technologies and district heating systems, and minimise waste.

5.3 The Local Plan as a whole sets out a strategy for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Examples of climate change mitigation are:

  • Reducing the need to travel and providing for sustainable transport;
  • Providing opportunities for renewable and low carbon energy technologies;
  • Providing opportunities for decentralised energy and heating;
  • Promoting low carbon design approaches to reduce energy consumption in buildings, such as passive solar design.

Examples of climate change adaptation are:

  • Considering future climate risks when allocating development sites to ensure risks are understood over the development’s lifetime;
  • Avoiding areas that are most vulnerable to future flood risk;
  • Considering the impact of and promoting design responses to flood risk and coastal change for the lifetime of the development;
  • Considering availability of water and water infrastructure for the lifetime of the development and design responses to promote water efficiency and protect water quality;
  • Promoting adaptation approaches in design policies for developments and the public realm.

5.4 New development should be planned to avoid increased vulnerability to the range of impacts arising from climate change. Developers will be expected to demonstrate how the scheme mitigates and adapts to climate change. In particular proposals will be expected to demonstrate how they have taken account of flood risk, water efficiency, biodiversity, landform, layout, building orientation, massing, tree planting and landscaping to minimise energy consumption and provide resilience to a changing climate.

5.5 Policy ENV3 includes detailed criteria relating to green infrastructure. Where possible, connections should be made to the Colchester Orbital. Landscaping and tree planting are important climate change adaptation measures and new development should take every opportunity to enhance the Borough’s green infrastructure network. Landscaping schemes should include species that will tolerate a changing climate, which will help future proof towns and urban areas against rising temperatures. The benefits for the natural and local environment and climate change of tree canopy cover are widely recognised. A study (The Canopy Cover of England’s Towns and Cities: baselining and setting targets to improve human health and well-being) carried out in 2017, concluded the following:

  • An average TCC of 20% should be set as the minimum standard for most UK towns and cities, with a lower target of 15% for coastal towns;
  • Towns and cities with at least 20% cover should set targets to increase cover by at least 5% (i.e. above the ±2% tolerance of i-Tree Canopy) within ten to 20 years (depending on what is achievable against their baseline); and
  • Targets and strategies for increasing tree cover should be set according to the species, size and age composition of the existing urban forest, based upon a ward/district level and land-use assessment.

5.6 The tree canopy coverage for Colchester Borough is currently 18% varying between wards / locations there are some areas with larger and better canopy cover and others with significantly less. As per the recommendation above, the long-term aim should be to increase the canopy cover of the borough to 20% and then 25%. It is recognised that this is an aspirational target, but that new development should seek to contribute to increase tree canopy cover where appropriate. It is considered that 10% as a target on development sites where appropriate would help to mitigate the likely losses of trees over the plan period whilst steadily increasing the overall canopy cover of the borough.

5.7 A Canopy Cover Assessment will be required for all major applications 1. Development proposals should seek where appropriate to increase the level of canopy cover on site by a minimum of 10%. In circumstances, where this is not possible or desirable, compensatory provision should be identified and secured through a legal obligation. This will increase the overall canopy cover of the borough, enable sites to mitigate and adapt to climate change and deliver biodiversity net gain.

5.8 To help contribute towards achieving the national climate change target set out in the Climate Change Act 2008 of net zero carbon by 2050 from a 1990 baseline, the Local Planning Authority will encourage development to meet a proportion of energy needs from renewable or low carbon sources. In 2019, the Council made a Climate Emergency declaration. The Council is committed to firm action and has set a target to be net zero carbon by 2030 and is committed to a significant programme of environmental stewardship. A Climate Challenge and Sustainability Strategy and a Carbon Management Plan will support the Climate Emergency Action Plan and will set out detailed specific carbon reduction projects.

5.9 The Local Planning Authority will support proposals for renewable energy development providing that there would be no adverse effects on Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, or the Dedham Vale AONB. Policy DM25 includes criteria that will be used to assess proposals for renewable energy schemes.

5.10 Whilst renewable energy has an important role to play in contributing to a reduction in Colchester’s greenhouse gas emissions, regard should be had to the energy hierarchy. The energy hierarchy sets out the order in which energy issues should be tackled:

  1. Reduce the need for energy;
  2. Use energy more efficiently;
  3. Use renewable energy;
  4. Any continuing use of fossil fuels should be clean and efficient.

5.11 The Council is supporting the development of a low carbon district heating system using an open loop ground source heat pump at Colchester Northern Gateway for a mixed used development in conjunction with the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Heat Network Investment Project.

5.12 Existing buildings can also play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through improved energy efficiency measures where appropriate. Householders and businesses will be encouraged to make energy efficiency improvements to existing buildings as part of proposals for extensions/ alterations. Appropriate energy efficiency measures for historic buildings will be different in relation to certain classes of historic buildings.

Policy CC1: Climate Change

Colchester Borough Council made a Climate Emergency declaration in 2019. A Climate Challenge and Sustainability Strategy and a Carbon Management Plan will support the Climate Emergency Action Plan and will set out detailed specific carbon reduction projects. In addressing the move to a low carbon future for Colchester, the Local Planning Authority will plan for new development in locations and ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adopt the principles set out in the energy hierarchy and provide resilience to the impacts of a changing climate.

A low carbon future for Colchester will be achieved by:

  1. Encouraging and supporting the provision of renewable and low carbon technologies.
  2. Encouraging new development to provide a proportion of the energy demand through renewable or low carbon sources.
  3. Encouraging design and construction techniques which contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation by using landform, layout, building orientation, massing, tree planting and landscaping to minimise energy consumption and provide resilience to a changing climate.
  4. A Canopy Cover Assessment will be required for all major applications2 . Development proposals should seek where appropriate to increase the level of canopy cover on site by a minimum of 10%. In circumstances, where this is not possible or desirable, compensatory provision should be identified and secured through a legal obligation.
  5. Requiring both innovative design and technologies that reduce the impacts of climate change within the garden community.
  6. Supporting opportunities to deliver decentralised energy systems, particularly those which are powered by a renewable or low carbon source. Supporting connection to an existing decentralised energy supply system where there is capacity to supply the proposed development, or design for future connection where there are proposals for such a system.
  7. Requiring development in the Northern Gateway to connect to or be capable of connecting to the district heating scheme where there is capacity to supply the proposed development and where it is appropriate and viable to do so.
  8. Supporting energy efficiency improvements to existing buildings in the Borough where appropriate.
  9. Minimising waste and improving reuse and recycling rates.
  10. Development will be directed to locations with the least impact on flooding or water resources. All development should consider the impact of and promotion of design responses to flood risk for the lifetime of the development and the availability of water and wastewater infrastructure for the lifetime of the development.
  11. Green infrastructure should be used to manage and enhance existing habitats. Opportunities should be taken to create new habitats and assist with species migration. Consideration should be given to the use of green infrastructure to provide shade during higher temperatures and for flood mitigation. The potential role of green infrastructure as ‘productive landscapes’ should also be considered.

1 Major applications are defined as per Article 2 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management) Procedure (England) Order 2015 as: Development involving any one or more of the following

  1. the winning and working of minerals or the use of land for mineral-working deposits;
  2. waste development;
  3. the provision of dwellinghouses where -
  4. the number of dwellinghouses to be provided is 10 or more; or
  5. the development is to be carried out on a site having an area of 0.5 hectares or more and it is not known whether the development falls within sub-paragraph ;
  6. the provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the development is 1,000 square metres or more; or
  7. development carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectare or more

2 Major applications are defined as per Article 2 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management) Procedure (England) Order 2015 as: Development involving any one or more of the following

  1. the winning and working of minerals or the use of land for mineral-working deposits;
  2. waste development;
  3. the provision of dwellinghouses where -
    1. the number of dwellinghouses to be provided is 10 or more; or
    2. the development is to be carried out on a site having an area of 0.5 hectares or more and it is not known whether the development falls within sub-paragraph ;
  4. the provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the development is 1,000 square metres or more; or
  5. development carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectare or more

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