South East Forum For Sustainability

Over the last 12 years or so SEFS has done a large amount of work on ensuring sustainability is built in to regional policy. With the demise of SEERA and then the Partnership Board we have written to SE England Councils, the South East Strategic Chief Executives and the South East Strategic Leaders Boards to outline the policies which we believe need to be embedded into the ethos of future planning whether it be at a local level or whether some sort of strategic regional level remerges when all the dust of recent changes has settled. Our overview is outlined below.

Sustainable Development and Environmental Limits

For SEFS, it is vital that environmental sustainability forms a major underpinning principle to spatial planning.  Pursuing a genuine “triple bottom line” approach – with clear guidance ensuring that sustainability is achieved through integration of, and not ‘tradeoffs’ between, economic, social and environmental interests and assets – will be crucial.  In this context, we are concerned that recent positive steps towards developing policies that enshrine respect for environmental limits (or ‘environmental capacity’) should be continued, with the goal that these become embedded locally. 

Ecological Footprint

The South East (SE) has championed the use of ecological footprint, adopting it as an indicator, setting targets for stabilisation and reduction and producing a ‘route map’ to help us get there. The principle has been adopted in recent approaches to both strategic planning and planning for economic development in the South East. SEFS maintains it is essential we continue to take a footprint approach to ensure we take account of our global as well as local environmental impacts.

Climate Change

We believe that climate change should be recognised as the single biggest threat to people, the economy and the natural environment in the South East.  As such, it is vital that local policy frameworks acknowledge the need to reduce CO₂ emissions and continue taking steps to adapt to the impacts of climate change.  In order for this work to have teeth, local authorities should adopt CO₂ emission reduction targets (based on consumption as well as production), which should be regularly monitored, reported and reviewed. Without a regional body to monitor and review this work it is unclear how this will continue.

Green Infrastructure

The South East Plan included very positive and forward-looking environmental policies. We believe these need to be fully carried across into the new planning landscape.  A key policy is green infrastructure (GI), which we support very strongly.  The broad list of multifunctional GI objectives and the accompanying list of assets as set out in the South East Plan represent a good place to start. The South East Green Infrastructure Partnership is continuing to develop guidance and resources to assist the planning community to build on the policy framework initiated under the SE Plan.

Housing

Although the shape and pace of new housing developments in the SE will necessarily change as a result of the demise of SE-wide housing targets, we believe it is important that housing policies at a very local level continue to have coherence.  Our priorities are set out below and we hope they can be integrated into future local housing development policies.

We believe that policies should bring together sustainability principles in design, construction and location.  This means, for example, ensuring that all new homes achieve Sustainable Buildings Code level 4 and refurbishments achieve EcoHomes XB standard, preferably by 2012.  We support policies that prioritise the use of local, reclaimed, renewable and recycled materials in construction and also take a sequential approach to land allocation with redundant buildings and brownfield sites being considered before construction on greenfield sites and equally that renovation is considered before demolition and replacement.   The principles of respect for environmental limits also apply very strongly to proposed housing developments, including previously developed land with significant actual or potential wildlife interest or community value, which should not be developed.  In addition, new developments need to avoid flood plains where this might increase flood risk elsewhere and/or threaten important or potential wildlife sites.

Transport

We very much hope that the demise of the SE-wide spatial strategy will not spell the end to the overarching principle of spatial planning.  In terms of travel, we believe that taking a planned and proactive approach whereby housing, services, employment opportunities and commercial development are focused in the same location and ensuring that such developments are easily accessible by walking, cycling and public transport will all reduce the need to travel by unsustainable modes.

This includes supporting and developing the role of regional spokes by developing a complementary and integrated network of rail and express bus/coach services, with an additional focus on including a rural dimension which delivers sustainable links between towns and their nearest villages. 

In addition, SEFS supports many of the existing transport policies in the South East Plan, and hopes they can be carried through into new plans.  In particular we advocate policies which prioritise demand management over provision, and which foster and promote an improved and integrated network of public transport services.  We hope policies will encourage development that is located and designed to reduce average journey length.

SEFS is opposed to airport expansion and any policies which are likely to lead to an increase in flights to and from the region.

Natural Resources and Wildlife

We believe that the effective protection and nurturing of natural resources and wildlife for everyone in the SE should be a key component of spatial planning and policy.  We need policies locally that will protect and enhance wildlife species and habitats and increase their resilience to climate change impacts. To be effective, local policies need to be developed in the context of wider ambitions to enhance biodiversity assets, most importantly through the reconnection of fragmented habitats.  Key areas where habitats have become degraded can and should be targeted for restoration and, to prevent further fragmentation of the region’s key habitats (such as heathlands and chalk grasslands). A blueprint for action has been developed by the South East England Biodiversity Forum as the ‘South East Biodiversity Strategy‘[i]. A core feature of the Strategy is the focus on Biodiversity Opportunity Areas (BOAs) to create links and corridors to support species, habitats and more sophisticated ecological functions to underpin ecosystem services which in turn are vital to social and economic sustainability.

Water

How we manage and use water will become increasingly critical to the SE of England.  Climate change, population and development pressures are all compromising our ability to safeguard what is a fundamental natural resource building block.  We need policies that will safeguard supply for homes and businesses and also provide for our precious but fragile biodiversity.

SEFS is keen to see local policies that promote flood management and which deliver an integrated approach to planning and land management across whole floodplains and catchments.  This will be a challenge without a Regional Spatial Planning mechanism.

More specifically, SEFS advocates a reduction in per capita water consumption by at least 20% by 2016, encouraging more efficient use in homes, buildings and businesses.  We also support the promotion of ‘grey water’ use; Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS); and ‘water neutral’ developments (especially in the region’s main growth areas).  The rolling out of universal water metering (with suitable protection to vulnerable customers) and the development of a pricing system to reduce waste and reward wise use will form strong elements in meeting water reduction targets.

Waste

The UK remains a profligate nation in terms of its ability to generate waste from consumption.  SEFS believes that we should pull our weight more strongly and aim to eliminate the concept of waste in the SE.  To reach this goal, we believe we need support from policy which aims to: reduce waste generation, eliminate waste flows to landfill and for incineration, facilitate re-use, repair, composting and recycling and promote energy recovery through small scale heat and power plants and composting technologies such as anaerobic digestion.

Agriculture and Food Production

SEFS supports the development of more sustainable food production and distribution across the SE. This includes safeguarding prime agricultural land from housing and other development, and ensuring that new housing developments include access for residents to allotments and/or community gardens.  Infrastructure planning should include facilities which support a localised, sustainable food economy such as abattoirs, food hubs, processing units.  Retail planning must recognise the value of local and neighbourhood shopping centres and markets as outlets for locally produced food. Procurement should support sustainable food production and the promotion of sustainable diets.

Countryside and Landscape Management

SEFS believes that ensuring access to some of the South East Region’s greatest assets – its woodlands, historic parkland, downs, coast and heaths – should represent a cornerstone of policy.  Policy needs to recognise the benefits which the countryside and outstanding landscapes provide, environmentally, economically and socially.  To facilitate this, we believe that there should be an overall aim – reflected in all local policy – to protect and enhance the diversity and local distinctiveness of the region’s landscapes.  This would include giving priority to our special designated landscapes: AONBs and National Parks.

[i] See http://strategy.sebiodiversity.org.uk/

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