is one of the most significant recent developments to
combat climate change and one which will help turn
Brighton & Hove into a truly sustainable city. That is
the adoption by the Council of new Draft Planning
requirements . These will require strict standards on
reduction of carbon emissions from any new development
over 3 houses. They must be either carbon neutral
themselves or , if impossible , offset emissions by
improving existing domestic homes by retrofit (IE pay
into a fund for grants). Also every new building -
even single domestic houses, will required to achieve
targets for renewable energy. New housing development
will also be required to contribute towards the
planting of 64,000 trees across the city. It is
perhaps worth noting that this ground- breaking policy
, although coming to fruition now, is the work of the
Sustainability Commission and the Environment
Committee under the oft-denigrated (on this site
anyway) previous Labour Council . Not surprisingly the
Tory Administration tried to reduce its impact when
it came to the Environment Committee last week, but
were defeated by Labour, Lib Dems and Greens combined.
This policy will be going out for consultation and it
is important that it gets wide support - there are
already signs that the Government is wanting to curb
the ability of Local Authorities to adopt such
policies (perhaps under pressure from interested
groups) , I would therefore urge all those who care
about climate change to make sure that they engage
with the consultation process.
Joyce Edmond-Smith
Tel (01273) 680 705
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