Added weight for environmental policies to address climate change 'as quickly as possible'

East Devon District Council will give additional weight to all its policies that seek to address climate change.

Councillors on the Strategic Planning Committee on Tuesday morning backed a series of recommendations that aim to ensure that the Council is doing all it can to progress planning policies to address climate change as quickly as possible.

They agreed that the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan was the best way to set new standards to address climate change, to work to deliver more tree planting projects in the district to assist with carbon off-setting and to support a proposed 31 per cent uplift in energy efficiency standards.

But they also agreed with a recommendation put forward by Cllr Mike Howe, which would give added weight to all the environmental policies in the current Local Plan was also agreed.

Cllr Howe, who is the chairman of the development management committee, said: "This is a quick and simple thing to be done and gives our planners added weight for applying our policies. It is essential and we need to do it."

Ed Freeman – Service Lead – Planning Strategy and Development Management, told the committee that there were 22 policies in the existing Local Plan that aim to address climate change, but there is more that could be done, and that some of the policies were out of date.

He added that the wording of some of the policies were watered down at the request of the Local Plan Inspector partly because it went beyond government policy at the time.

He explained: "There is a lot already going on in the district and we have policies to make us being lower carbon than we could have been.

"Some of the policies might not have the teeth that we would like them to have."

Cllr Paul Hayward said: "We must not accept anything less than the very best for the people we represent," while Cllr Ollie Davey called for solar panel to be installed on all roofs of new properties in the UK.

But Cllr Mike Allen said that while he agreed with the principle, when he tried to put solar panels on his house, he couldn't because there was a tree in the way.

He added: "We must build houses to Passivhous standard if we can and have to make sure they are affordable to the local population.

"It is going to be difficult to achieve but we have to make sure people can actually live in the houses."

The committee unanimously agreed to support the proposed uplift in energy efficiency standards for new homes in the current government consultation on "The Future Homes Standard", which could see a 31 per cent reduction in carbon emissions compared to the current standard.

They agreed that the Council should work in partnership with land owners, conservation groups and other public and private sector bodies to deliver more tree planting projects in the district to assist with carbon off-setting and enable biodiversity enhancements, and to endorse using the standards set in the Cranbrook Plan as a starting point for standards for energy efficiency and around climate change through the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan.