APPENDIX 5 NATIONAL PLANNING POLICIES RELATING TO CLIMATE CHANGE 1. PPS1 1.1 This sets out the framework of the national guidance and provides the basis for the Government’s approach to sustainability. This advice sets out as one of its key principles the need for the development plan system to contribute to global sustainability by, inter alia, promoting the development of renewable energy resources. The aim of the sustainability concept is to help to provide for necessary development in ways which do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. In this context, the development of wind energy is considered to be a highly sustainable way of providing energy because: • Power from wind turbines helps to reduce the production of harmful greenhouse gases; • Wind turbines developments do not themselves produce harmful emissions and studies show that the energy required to manufacture and install the wind turbines is “paid back” within three to six months from the first generation of electricity to the grid; • Wind turbine developments involve very small amounts of land take and do not result in a materially significant sterilisation of valuable land resources; • Following completion, wind turbine developments create very little traffic; • Wind turbine developments generally have insignificant effects on wildlife and ecology; • The development is genuinely reversible in that once the decision has been made to cease operation the development can be dismantled and the land can revert to its former use, usually agricultural, without any adverse effects on land quality overall; 1 c:\documents and settings\nxibbets\desktop\hearing statement app5 ds change (v1-0 0045506571).doc 2. PPS1 Supplement - Planning and Climate Change 2.1 As a statement of Government policy this PPS1 Supplement has considerable weight in the decision-making process. It is also expressly mentioned in the latest Energy White Paper as a key plank of the Government’s approach. 2.2 In the Foreword it states that where there is any difference in emphasis between this PPS and others in the national series, this will take precedence – this is especially important where it tackles the way in which policies are to be devised to deal with criteria to be used in assessing proposals. At para 9, it states that the spatial strategies shall make a full contribution to delivering the Government’s Climate Change Programme and energy policies. At the RSS level it states (para 13) that the policies shall ensure that opportunities for renewable and low-carbon sources of energy supply are maximised, and that policies are in place to meet opportunities in the region and the national targets. 2.3 Critically at para 20 on Local Development Documents it sets out a series of tests for policies which must, inter alia, pay particular attention to opportunities for decentralised energy from renewable sources; look favourably on proposals for renewable energy; not to require applicants to demonstrate either the overall need for renewable energy or for the energy justification for a particular proposal for renewable energy to be sited in a particular location; and ensure any local approach to protecting landscape and townscape is consistent with PPS22 and does not preclude the supply of any type of renewable energy other than in the most exceptional circumstances. 2.4 At para 34 it makes it clear that monitoring is needed to identify where failure to meet targets is occurring and to identify steps to respond effectively to such failure. Finally at paragraph 40 it states that an application for planning permission to develop a proposal that will contribute to the delivery of the Key Planning Objectives in the PPS should expect expeditious and sympathetic handling of the application. 2 c:\documents and settings\nxibbets\desktop\hearing statement app5 ds change (v1-0 0045506571).doc 3 PPS 22 - Renewable Energy 3.1 PPS22 provides the potential for a step change in policy. The PPS confirms that the development of renewable energy, alongside improvements in energy efficiency and the development of combined heat and power, will make a vital contribution to the aims of the national energy policy set out in the 2003 White Paper. Increased development of renewable energy sources is thus seen as essential to the delivery of the commitments on climate change, and the PPS goes on to state that positive planning which facilitates renewable energy developments can contribute to all four elements of the Government’s strategy on sustainable development. 3.2 These key objectives include providing new sources of energy in remote areas, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing reliance on diminishing supplies of fossil fuels, and economic benefits through the creation of jobs directly related to renewable energy especially in rural areas. A key change of approach in the planning context is the stress that is laid on promoting and encouraging renewable energy developments rather than taking a restrictive approach to them. Also stressed is the need to take into account the much wider benefits - environmental and economic - that have to be weighed in the balance against whatever adverse effects may be identified in the assessment process. Advice on the use of targets and on the inappropriateness of having formal buffer zones around designated landscape areas both feature prominently in the guidance. 3.3 The PPS sets out eight key principles in the approach to planning for renewable energy, which can be summarised as follows: 1 Renewable energy developments should be capable of being accommodated throughout England where the technology is viable, and environmental, economic and social impacts can be addressed satisfactorily; 2 Policies at all levels should be designed to promote and encourage, rather than restrict, renewable energy developments. 3 Criteria for such developments should be identified in local policies, but where constraints are considered excessive the Government will intervene in the plan-making process. 3 c:\documents and settings\nxibbets\desktop\hearing statement app5 ds change (v1-0 0045506571).doc 4 The wider environmental and economic benefits of all proposals, whatever their scale are material planning considerations to be given significant weight in deciding whether to grant consent. 5 Plans should not make assumptions based on technical issues in identifying generalised locations that may be suitable. 6 Small-scale projects can make a valuable contribution to overall needs and should not be rejected on the grounds of small output. 7 LPAs should encourage community involvement and promote knowledge of and greater public acceptance of appropriately located developments. Developers should engage the public in discussion. 8 Proposals should demonstrate any environmental, economic and social benefits as well as how potential adverse effects have been minimised. 3.4 On regional targets, the PPS requires that these are set for both 2010 and 2020, with progress monitored by the regional planning bodies. Targets should be revised upwards if they are met, subject to the region’s capacity and resources potential. Reaching a target should not be used in itself as a reason for rejecting further proposals. The presence of offshore sites should not be used as a reason for lowering the targets for onshore resources. Finally, while the regional target may be disaggregated to give, for example, County targets, and a broad indication can be given of the contribution of different technologies, the latter should not be taken as fixed given the rapid advances that technology can make. 3.5 The PPS advises that policies should be based on criteria, rather than seeking to identify specific sites, unless these are themselves identified by developers and their viability confirmed for the plan period. Broad areas of search can however be identified at the regional or sub-regional level. 3.6 Local landscape and nature conservation designations should not be used in themselves to refuse planning consent for renewable energy developments. Criteria-based policies should be the basis of assessment. Finally, the PPS states that as most resources can only be developed where they exist and are economically viable, it is not appropriate to create some form of sequential test, such as giving priority to previously developed land. 4 c:\documents and settings\nxibbets\desktop\hearing statement app5 ds change (v1-0 0045506571).doc 3.7 On landscape and visual effects, the PPS points out that while wind turbines are likely to have the greatest effects amongst the renewable technologies, the impact will vary depending on the scale of the development and the type of landscape involved. It also points out that these impacts may be temporary, as such sites are capable of being decommissioned through the application of appropriate conditions. 3.8 On noise, the PPS formally advises that the 1997 report by ETSU for the DTI should be used to assess and rate noise from wind energy development. 3.9 Overall, PPS22 does reflect the recognition that there needs to be a step change in terms of renewable energy development in terms of putting the development on the ground, given that we are now only a year and a half away from the first key national target date of 2010. Effective protection of the environment, which is a key element of the sustainable development strategy, is recognised in PPS22 as including reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, which thereby reduce the potential for the environment to be affected by climate change. Prudent use of natural resources includes reducing the nation’s reliance on ever-diminishing supplies of fossil fuels. The visual effects of wind turbines on the landscape have to be read as part only of the wider environmental issues that Government policy seeks to address. 3.10 There is also a companion guide to the PPS dealing with the development of policies and good practice examples of renewable energy generation.