The next step

To the Planning Inspectorate's scoping opinion

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What is climate change resilience?

Inspectorate says no

A developer in Cambridgeshire was left scratching its head after the environmental statement it had prepared to support a planned energy from waste (EfW) plant was thrown out. In publishing its opinion on the scope of the statement, the Planning Inspectorate said that it had failed to detail climate change resilience measures appropriately (see The next step ).

The EfW plant is an important project because it could take in more than 500,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste every year. It has been fast-tracked via the Planning Act 2008 , designed for nationally significant infrastructure projects. Yet it appears to have stalled because of the lack of information supplied on how climate change might impact on the plant down the line.

What’s required?

The Inspectorate’s scoping opinion argues that the developer must produce an environmental statement that features an assessment of the likely “significant” effects that might come with increased flooding, changes in rainfall, shifts in temperature and increased wind speeds.

The assessment needs to cover the likely impacts during the lifetime of the plant, said to be around 40 years. It has to use the Met Office’s latest UKCP18 - the most up-to-date assessment of the effects of climate change in the UK - as a reference point.

As you would expect, the environmental statement also asked for details of the “anticipated origin of waste fuel” and how the plant’s developers plan to reduce the impact of waste imports.

Recap

Climate resilience is all about our ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to incidents which occur due to our changing climate. The theory is that global weather changes will trickle down to become local problems within the next 20 to 40 years. Understanding what issues might arise, and how their impacts might be limited, is what the government wants companies to start thinking about.

A sign of things to come?

Despite the clear justification for a new EfW plant to be built in Cambridgeshire, the request for climate change resilience measures to be included as part of the planning application suggests the government is getting tougher on developers by asking them to consider the long-term implications of their projects. As yet, this is only likely to be the case for significantly large infrastructure project. There is no evidence to suggest that smaller planning applications will require as much information.

Tip. If you do hit a wall with this type of request, it would be worthwhile hiring an environmental or planning consultant to help you develop an assessment that will keep the Planning Inspectorate happy.

For a link to the Planning Inspectorate’s scoping opinion, visit http://tipsandadvice-environment.co.uk/download (EN 14.09.04).