Written Question · S2W-12499 · Session 2
What plans it has to integrate climate change into its planning policies and what funds will be allocated for this purpose.
The question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to integrate climate change into its planning policies and what funds will be allocated for this purpose.
The answer
Climate change is already integrated into the Scottish Executive’s planning policies.
Scottish Planning Policy (SPP)1 The Planning System recognises the Executive’s wider commitment to tackle climate change and acknowledges that burning fossil fuel is the biggest single contributor to global warming. It says:
“The planning system can play a part in reducing emissions when guiding the location and design of development and the management of land use change. Specific actions include reducing the need to travel and encouraging sustainable forms of transport, and encouraging energy efficient design and appropriate choice of materials. The planning system should take the possible impacts of climate change, for example greater rainfall and increased risk of flooding, into account when taking decisions on the location of new developments and other changes of use.”
Other planning policies are also relevant to climate change including SPP7 Planning and Flooding, SPP3 Planning for Housing, National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 13 Coastal Planning, NPPG 6 Renewable Energy and NPPG 10 Waste Management.
It should be noted that SPPs are replacing NPPGs, but the two series have the same status as statements of Scottish Executive planning policy.
The preparation and publication of Scottish Planning Policies and Planning Advice Notes fall within normal departmental running costs as, similarly, does the work of planning authorities in applying them in development plans and in the determination of planning applications. Funding for new development is primarily the responsibility of the developer, who will also benefit from the project, though Executive funding which is available for specific projects such as local authorities’ Flood Prevention Schemes which incorporate an element for climate change.
Scottish Planning Policy (SPP)1 The Planning System recognises the Executive’s wider commitment to tackle climate change and acknowledges that burning fossil fuel is the biggest single contributor to global warming. It says:
“The planning system can play a part in reducing emissions when guiding the location and design of development and the management of land use change. Specific actions include reducing the need to travel and encouraging sustainable forms of transport, and encouraging energy efficient design and appropriate choice of materials. The planning system should take the possible impacts of climate change, for example greater rainfall and increased risk of flooding, into account when taking decisions on the location of new developments and other changes of use.”
Other planning policies are also relevant to climate change including SPP7 Planning and Flooding, SPP3 Planning for Housing, National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 13 Coastal Planning, NPPG 6 Renewable Energy and NPPG 10 Waste Management.
It should be noted that SPPs are replacing NPPGs, but the two series have the same status as statements of Scottish Executive planning policy.
The preparation and publication of Scottish Planning Policies and Planning Advice Notes fall within normal departmental running costs as, similarly, does the work of planning authorities in applying them in development plans and in the determination of planning applications. Funding for new development is primarily the responsibility of the developer, who will also benefit from the project, though Executive funding which is available for specific projects such as local authorities’ Flood Prevention Schemes which incorporate an element for climate change.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-12499 by reference.