06/03/2008 Visit to council planning officers
At the invitation of Mike Silverman of ‘sustainable Billesdon’ I accompanied him to a meeting at the council offices at 3:30pm. The two council officers involved were Tess Nelson who is the ‘Principle planning officer’ and it is she that is involved in developing the new ‘Local Development Framework’, Mark Patterson who is a planning officer.
The point of the meeting originally was to ascertain the current environment for the installation of micro-generation on domestic dwellings especially in conservations areas which pretty much cover places like Billesdon and Great Bowden in their entirety.
Mark Patterson had produced a flyer with some bullet points on the limits allowed on locating these technologies and not having to seek planning permission. I will repeat these on another page shortly but basically wind turbines need planning permission to be placed in any location of use. New guidance is due from central government which should make allowances for these technologies.
We also covered wind farms and the potential of community co-operatives, obviously planning permission would be required but ‘Environmental Impact Assessments’ would most likely not apply to single turbine developments. The East side of the district is categorised as an ‘Area of particularly attractive countryside’ and so you would be discouraged from developing there however, ‘Planning Policy statement 1’ excludes consideration of these status’s (including SSI’s) from being considered as part of the planning process.
I ask about if the council was to make use of ‘Mertons rule’ which in a nutshell allows councils to insist on higher efficiency standards for buildings. It was explained that the council has to demonstrate that their demands are a) Technically feasible and b) that it does not impact on the developer’s ability to make a profit.
The council has commissioned, in conjunction with some other councils, a consultancy called itpower to look into the carbon impact of siteing developments (commuting distances etc.,), Renewable resources in the district (Windy areas, bio mass etc.,) and energy efficiency. This is to aid in the development of the ‘Local development Framework’ which has been held up due to excessive red tape from central government, a streamlined process is expected soon to expedite the process.
The code for sustainable homes was mentioned but I can not remember in which context. It was also mention that the council runs a ‘Climate change group’ which is hosted by our very own Councillor Alistair Swatridge and it was suggested that if we were to do a presentation to the council we should start there.
Darren
Environment portfolio holder – Councillor Alistair Swatridge Planning portfolio holder – Councillor Everett Energy Manager – Graham Ladds