Urban planning is ill-equipped to address climate change

Climate change is causing devastation and the action needed to maintain a safely habitable planet demands (in the words of UN secretary-general António Guterres) “action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once”. 

Tackling climate change must be central to the purpose of planning. Yet, in research commissioned by the Climate Change Committee, we found local planning in England ill-equipped to face this crisis. 

Progress varies wildly across authorities, with a growing gap between ‘frontrunners’ and the majority lagging behind. The likes of  Bath, Cornwall and East Lincolnshire show the potential for local plans to respond to the climate emergency through strengthened policy on net-zero new buildings, nature recovery and renewables. 

However, others (such as West Oxfordshire) have seen their policy ambition watered down by PINS. The resulting ‘policy patchwork’ is rooted in the failure of national government to mobilise the planning system in response to climate change.

“The result is that the planning system is fuelling, rather than tackling, the climate crisis”

 

The barriers presented make grim reading. Plan-making is not happening at the strategic level required to address long-term adaptation. National policy acts against progressive action on mitigation opportunities such as transport, energy efficiency and renewable energy. 

Carbon accounting is rare, (just 13 per cent of local authorities can quantify the emissions their local plan would create). Rules around viability are also hampering efforts to address climate change. All is exacerbated by planning’s skills and capacity crises. 

This points to an institutional culture in government that views the planning system as a problem rather than a solution.The result is a planning system fuelling, rather than tackling, the climate crisis. 

Planning has the potential to be a vital public policy tool for climate mitigation and adaptation, and planners are eager to rise to this challenge. Imagine what could be achieved if the profession was enabled by national policy, rather than working against it.

Celia Davis is projects and policy manager for the Town and Country Planning Association. Neil Best is senior planner for net zero with the Centre for Sustainable Energy.