climate change at the heart of planning

I went to the TCPA/FoE parliamentary launch of the planning for climate change - guidance and approaches for local authorities today. Planning and Climate Change Coalition is a cross sector non-political grouping of over 50 organisations, led by the TCPA (Town and Country Planning Association) and Friends of the Earth (FoE), the Guide is to provide comprehensible guidance to local authorities on planning for climate change.

Hugh Ellis for the TCPA introduced it saying that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) empowers the Climate Act into planning strategies for the first time, and as the Climate Act incorporates fixed targets, these have become the responsibility of planning policy. This seems impressive, but Bob Neil, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government in response to a later question said that he thought targets were a mistake, and this does seem to represent Government thinking - it seems Government might not mind missing the Climate Act targets.

brighton crits

A pleasure to see Studio One 2nd years's work at Brighton yesterday. Alex Arestis and Ben Sweetting's briefs challenge students to imagine an urbanised future scenario for the town of Winchelsea, once again an important costal city following flooding. Winchelsea's history is fascinating and the briefs allow students to imagine their own stories for the place. So the critics saw the small peninsula transformed into a wildlife and animal park, a trendy bike-only fashion district, a centre for religious studies inspired by palimpsests, a place for getting lost in dance, a magnificent station for a fast rail link, a series of islands for golf players, a labyrinthian masonic lodge and a fishing village - amongst others. Thanks for having me!
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AJ footprint visits the environment centre

Michelle Price from the AJ's sustainability blog Footprint spent a morning on site with the design team, contractors and volunteers and reported back on what she saw. Read the full article here.