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Planning for Net Zero Preparing for Climate Change Anthony J Cooper ©Anthony J Cooper 2020 8/CB22 5FF CONTENTS Page Introduction ­ This Blessed Plot 5 1. The Prospect 8 2. Governance 13 3. The Climate Change Act 19 4. The best laid plans… 27 5. Sustainable Development. Squaring the Circle 32 6. The Current Planning System 38 7. Can Planning Cope? 45 8. Standing Room Only 50 9. Housing 56 10. The Movement of People and Goods 67 11. Water Supply, Flooding and Waste Disposal 79 12. Atmospheric Pollution 84 13. Commerce and Industry 86 14. Meeting the demand for Energy 95 15. Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry and Fishing 97 16. Conservation and Heritage 102 17. People 107 18. Green Belts 111 19. Defence of the Realm. 115 20. Response 117 21. Where do we go from here? 122 Abbreviations 129 Author's Preface By the time this book is published, if it is published let alone read, its thesis could be history. Significant events are occurring with ever increasing frequency and these could make this book as passé as an ancient manuscrip t. It should be, however, none the worse for that. I found myself with time on my hands when we were "locked down" by the coronavirus pandemic. Life in Coventry turned out to be an excellent opportunity to write undisturbed with ready access to the Internet serving as a substitute for traipsing round libraries to search for research material. When I was a teenager I was beguiled by the prospect of "New Jerusalem" offered by the plans for rebuilding the country after the Second World War was over. Like so many of us I felt betrayed when those plans never came to fruition or turned out to be litter strewn brick and concrete wildernesses. "Town Planning" remained for me, however, a source of fascination even though I never entered the planning profession. I owe my continuing interest, I believe, to my father who introduced me to drawing, maps and architecture. This is a story of how we came late, possibly too late, to the realisation that what began in this country as the Industrial Revolution has become an existential threat not only to humanity but possibly to all life on earth. We know what we have done and what we must now do to avert catastrophe. We must clean up the atmosphere and probably the oceans and much else besides or we shall perish in the flames of an overheated earth ­ truly "the fire next time". I have attempted to describe the many strands of planning which are emerging to meet the challenge of global warming. Whether those plans will or indeed can be put into effect and carried out in time is a matter of speculation especially as many of the politicians and business people to whom we have entrusted our affairs are turning out to be short sighted, bigoted and incompetent whilst the changes to our planet have already commenced and are taking place with ever increasing speed. Drawing on my experience of 18 years as a government advisor I have had the temerity to suggest some things which could be done to save this country from the worst of climate change. Even if wiser heads than mine point out that my ideas are impractical or unrealistic those ideas might contribute to the conception of better ones. 5 This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi­paradise, This fortress built by Nature for her self Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in a silver sea Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands, This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,1 Introduction This Blessed Plot When William Shakespeare wrote those words he probably knew very little at first hand of the country of his birth. We don't know how far and wide he travelled throughout the kingdom; he may only have travelled between Stratford­on­Avon and London. He did, however, capture in words the essence of the country. England is indeed a "blessed plot". The image of England is that which was immortalised by the great landscape painters of the early 19th Century including Turner, Constable and Cotman. There is probably more beauty and greater variety in the English landscape than anywhere of comparable size in the world, from the white cliffs of Dover to the miniature mountains of the Lake District, from the storm battered coast of Cornwall to the open sweep of East Anglia. Shakespeare's "precious stone" is bounded by the mountains of Wales and Scotland. For centuries the British Isles have enjoyed the warmth of the Gulf Stream and the Atlantic weather which have given them a temperate climate, a fertile soil and seasons as varied as its landscape. For at least two millennia people have been attracted here, from the Belgic tribes who settled here before the Romans came to the Anglo­Saxon farmers who came after them. The country was raided and ravaged by Danes and Norsemen, many of whom like their forerunners decided to stay. The Normans came and took control and after them came Jews and Huguenots, all to enrich the culture and contribute to the variety and vibrancy of British life. The people include those of Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish descent, proud of their distinct traditions but British nonetheless. And still they come, descendants of people who inhabited the British Empire overseas and refugees from war torn and less fortunate lands, all to make up the British people. The British are not a race; they are made up of people from all over the world to form a remarkably tolerant society. 1 William Shakespeare "Richard II" V 2.1 11/20 6 As an island Great Britain is well endowed with natural harbours and estuaries from which its people ventured forth to trade, conquer and settle the world. Our seafarers created and maintained an empire historically second to none perhaps not for the best of motives but an achievement nonetheless, only for that empire to break up and vanish as the rest of the world caught up with western civilisation. For an historically short time Great Britain became "the Workshop of the World" which was not to last as the rest of the world caught up with and surpassed the technology which the British had bequeathed it. The physical scars left by that industrial revolution are starting to heal and the country is now part of a global economy. The social and economic legacy still, however, remains, with many of the old industrial towns in the north of the country struggling to find a place in the new order of things. Most of us privileged to have been born and brought up in the British Isles must surely be aware of this precious inheritance. It is incumbent on all of us to cherish and look after these islands and to bequeath them to future generations undefiled and if possible purged of the scars of past neglect and exploitation so that those generations can enjoy their beauty and lead harmonious, healthy and productive lives. That responsibility is no light one, now that we have entered the Anthropocene, a new era in which humanity is capable of controlling and even destroying the world, a world which is changing rapidly and facing multiple existential threats both immediate and in the foreseeable future, threats which are largely of our own making or that of our forefathers and could cause Gaia2 to bring the hegemony of humanity to an end. To discharge that responsibility we must take steps in good time to meet those threats and to become resilient to changes that cannot be avoided and preserve the landscape and flora and fauna of these islands so far as possible. Government at every level and right across the political spectrum must agree that this is our paramount responsibility and respond accordingly. If this can be agreed, as it must be if disaster is to be averted, how can we proceed? This work reviews the current situation and describes the threats we face. It then describes a way forward to a better and secure future. In doing so it does not conjure up a Utopian vision. It builds on what is possible, using the resources we can command. It therefore seeks to answer the questions which arise from this situation. 2 The scientist James Lovelock has put forward an hypothesis that our planet, "Gaia", although not a living organism of itself is capable of behaving like one and, given certain stimuli, changing from one state of equilibrium to another, a change which could bring human life to an end. V 2.1 11/20 7 � Is government in the UK at all levels and across the four administrations capable of recognising existential threats in time for action to be taken to meet them? � Does the machinery exist to plan responses to those threats and � Can and will decisive action be taken in time? But first of all there is a need to consider terminology ­ "buzzwords". Many people are concerned about the state of our environment or rather "Environment". This is a term which has acquired great significance since the 1950s, before which it simply meant surroundings. Now it means the world in which we live, not only the appearance of town and countryside but also the biosphere with all its rich variety of flora and fauna both on land and in the sea and upon which humanity depends for its existence.

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