Low Emission Strategies

Profile Professionals

Nigel Jenkins
Project Development Officer for Sussex Air Quality Partnership (Sussex-air) and Regional Champion for the Sussex Low Emission Strategies Regional Group

Nigel has been involved in air quality and climate change for over 14 years, working within the public and private sectors. Since joining Sussex-air 6 years ago, he has developed and delivered regional and EU projects, trained officers, lead seminars, meetings and become a member of several expert committees on air quality in the UK.

Nigel is the Regional Champion for the Sussex Low Emission Strategies Regional Group, which also includes Lewes District Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, Chichester District Council, East Sussex County Council, West Sussex County Council, Hastings Borough Council, Brighton and Hove City Council, Worthing Borough Council, Adur District Council, Environmental Protection UK and Climate South East.

What are you seeking to achieve in your Regional Group in 2010 (vision, outcomes, activities)?

Our aim is to enable air quality and climate change professionals to engage with the development of a low emission strategy for Sussex with regional strategic, transport and land-use planning authorities. The initiative will enable the partnership to ‘link-in’ air quality and climate change into the local development framework process to ensure that these two key elements are a consideration for further planning policy, which are key to delivering a low emission strategy.

What will your role be in developing this?

As the Regional Champion, my role is to engage and connect with the key policy and planning professionals throughout the region, to raise awareness and get buy-in for the concept of low emission strategies.

What do you see as the key benefits of working with the Low Emission Strategies Partnership?

The LES Partnership has provided £20k funding to cover some of our time and costs in working on this initiative. They are also providing technical expertise and guidance. One of the most important benefits is the access that we will have to the network of other local authorities working on Low Emission Strategies. We are really looking forward to sharing ideas and approaches.

Why are low emission strategies important for Sussex?

We need to be more strategic about dealing with air quality and climate change at a regional level. Low Emission Strategies provide an opportunity for local authorities to make a real difference through the planning system. The diversity of environments that we have in Sussex makes it an interesting case study. We’ll need to consider congested towns, remote rural communities lacking in sufficient public transport, and strategic highway networks under increasing transport pressure. The new South Down National Park and Shoreham Harbour (one of the government’s recently backed eco towns) also fall within the catchment. It is an opportune time to take stock, and to develop and implement a low emission strategy for the region.

Any advice for colleagues keen to adopt LES in their authorities?

We have just set out on the path, but the key step so far has been for air quality / climate change professionals to engage with planners, to understand the planning frameworks and systems. This is crucial to develop a joint understanding of the potential role for planning-based low emission strategies in reducing air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Previously Profiled

Jim Alford
Assistant Director, Regulatory Services within Planning and Economic Regeneration Department at Sefton Council.

Jim joined Sefton Council as Head of Development Control in November 1982. Today he is responsible for the regulatory work of the department. On the development control side that involves planning applications, appeals, public inquiries, planning enforcement and monitoring of developments. On the building control side, Jim works on a wide range of applications including safety at sports grounds and dangerous buildings.

Jim’s team have always worked closely with Environmental Protection - some of the most contentious projects have involved the open storage and processing of coal and scrap within the Port of Liverpool, where Regulatory Services have slowly but steadily achieved improvement in working practice and environmental impact.

In the future Jim hopes to continue to improve Sefton’s Regulatory Services Development Team to help those looking to carry out projects and to support sustainable development. To build on Sefton’s success as a Beacon Authority for air quality, he is keen to promote a low emission approach wherever possible by developing a more holistic and coherent strategy - one that is both understandable and helpful to developers and regulators. By using support from the LES Partnership Jim hopes to create a low emissions strategy policy document which will be given weight in planning decisions.

How have you used the LES model?

We are using the LES model to develop some really practical guidance for practitioners on how emissions associated with developments can be reduced or mitigated. We are at the start of the process and have involved colleagues from Environmental Protection and Transport Planning. We have found that all our colleagues are very positive about this approach and see LES as an ideal framework to build cooperation between our various functions to achieve reductions in emissions. Up to now we have held a number of brainstorming sessions to scope out firstly how we would use the LES model, this is where the idea for the Guidance was developed, and then what we would want to see included. These are currently being written up and we will be having a meeting shortly to finalise the structure of the document and organise its production. We are also considering setting up a number of subsidiary projects, that we could possibly recruit some local students to undertake looking for example at the economic or sustainability aspects of developing an LES for Sefton.

What are the benefits for a planner of taking this approach?

The LES approach provides a framework that can bring together various initiatives under the overall goal of reducing emissions, allowing each to be tailored so that they compliment each other and contribute towards the overall goal. It also supports and encourages cross sectoral working between teams and Departments with the LES providing a structure that makes it easy for people to see how their contribution can fit in and why it is important. The tools currently being developed by the LESDP will also greatly help in evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. The consistency of approach that comes from developing an LES will, I believe, also make it easier for developers to understand why initiatives are being proposed and to participate in their development.

Any advice for colleagues in Planning who are keen to adopt LES?

My advice would be to contact colleagues in other sectors, particularly environmental protection and transport, and get them onside as soon as possible as to be successful it has to be a joint exercise; having said that I would strongly recommend the process as something that can bring real benefits.

 

Previously Profiled

Martin Williams LES Champion
Head of Atmospheric Quality and Industrial Pollution Programme at DEFRA.

Why are low emission strategies important?

Air pollution is influenced by many sources and activities over a wide range of areas, regions and even countries and continents. Great strides have been made over the past few decades in reducing air pollution in our towns and cities, but problems still remain. There is still work to do in reducing air pollution impacts on ecosystems, and on the natural environment, but the largest remaining problems concern the health effects of pollution in our urban areas. Here the most important source is generally transport-related.

At an EU level, the so-called Euro standards for cars, light duty vehicles, HGVs and buses have ensured very large reductions from individual vehicles since their inception in the early 1970s. These improvements however have been counteracted by the increases in traffic activity over the past few decades. In order to make more rapid improvements in urban air quality arising from transport therefore, other approaches would be necessary. When we revised the Air Quality Strategy in 2007 we recognised it was important to work with the grain of climate change and land use and transport planning in order to attempt to secure optimal policies that made progress in attaining our goals in air quality, climate change and other areas. This is where Low Emissions Strategies are important. By concentrating attention on forward looking imaginative approaches to transport problems, involving fuels as well as technologies, we can begin to make a practical reality of transport solutions which benefit both local air quality and our emissions of greenhouse gases. Low emissions strategies which ensure air quality, as well as climate change concerns, are at the heart of developments and that action is directed towards a coherent and agreed approach to delivering shared goals is a very welcome step forward.

How do you see your role to champion them?

I want to ensure that the position I have as the leader of the air quality and industrial pollution programme in Defra is directed towards promoting a coherent and joined up strategy nationally which encourages, complements and supports action locally. We have had the system of Local Air Quality Management, given force by the Environment Act of 1995, in place for over ten years and it has been successful in raising awareness of air quality and of promoting actions in towns and cities across the country. However, we are now at a turning point where we need to ensure that those areas where we have important remaining problems are the focus of our attention and efforts. Within central government we can work to ensure that local measures, including Low Emissions Strategies, complement and enhance our actions at the national and international levels. I would like to use my role as a champion of Low Emission Strategies to make further progress in improving air quality over and above the measures we already have in place by encouraging the success of strategies already in place; to publicise and celebrate successful strategies across the UK and more widely internationally and to foster their wider development across the country.

What would you want to see planners and environmental practitioners doing to support LES?

Transport planners, land use planners and environmental practitioners are the key players on the ground for the delivery of Low emissions strategies. It is important that they work together in a coherent and complementary way to understand their different roles and what they can bring to improving air quality. Local air quality contributes significantly to quality of life and health and both transport planners and land use planners should be encouraged to consider the impacts of developments on air quality and the environment from conception through to completion and beyond. Wherever possible, transport planners and urban planners more generally by taking an imaginative longer-term view of the sustainable urban environment, can improve the liveability and quality of life in urban areas of the UK, with valuable benefits for air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental and health indicators.

Are there any exemplars you know of?

There are some strong exemplars of local authorities and groups of local authorities that work together in a coherent and concerted way to reduce emissions. The beacon authorities in particular are good examples of what can be achieved locally. Greenwich’s work on the peninsular project for example highlights the importance of building in consideration of air quality alongside other environmental impacts from the start of a project. This early consideration ensures that the planning and development of a proposal from inception to completion takes account of local air quality impacts and builds in the management of these all the way through the construction phase and beyond. The Care4Air group in South Yorkshire also show the benefits of working across local authority boundaries to reduce emissions. An important feature of this approach has been the communications and engagement of communities and citizens in the area affected by the strategy. Several others have shown that a low emissions approach can make a difference and are following innovative approaches. All this work is very important and I am pleased to be able to promote it and would like to take the opportunity to support everyone who is working hard to deliver low emission strategies on the ground.

 

Previously Profiled

Steve Merryfield, Chief Planning Officer at Greenwich Council

Our first feature profile focuses on Steve Merryfield, Chief Planning Officer at Greenwich Council. Steve joined Greenwich Council in 1986 with initial responsibility for planning projects such as the Greenwich Waterfront Strategy, which set out the vision for major riverside development. In August 2000 he became Head of Planning, responsible for some of the largest and most exciting development and regeneration projects in London. He was part of the Greenwich team that successfully secured Air Quality Beacon Authority status. Read more for Steve's response to our questions below.

How have you used the LES model?

“Developing strategies to protect and improve the environment particularly where concerns existed over air quality, has been something we have been working on since the mid 90s.  LES have been developed building on many years experience of close working between Planners and officers in the Environmental Health Department. We have sought to incorporate specific ways to ensure that air quality was addressed as early as possible.  A good example of this being put into practise was the Greenwich Peninsula planning application. This was the biggest development proposal we had received and we were anxious to ensure that we minimised potential impacts on the environment. The Council’s Planners together with the Environmental Health team worked closely from a very early stage to develop ways to address air quality. This led to the inclusion of specific clauses into the Section 106 Legal Agreement to ensure appropriate measures where introduced from the beginning. In this way we could ensure that developers were contributing to the process.  Since then we haven’t looked back and our efforts led to the Council being awarded Air Quality Beacon Status!”

What are the benefits for a planner of taking this approach?

“There are many ways in which the work of the planning officers has been made easier through developing LES. By making developers aware at the early stage of their planning of a new development helps to ensure that air quality and related environmental issues are fully taken into account.  There is increasing awareness from the public about potential environmental impacts from new developments, so if we can build in procedures and measures to address these issues at the early stages, we can respond more positively to those concerns. That helps make the planners’ job easier and more effective.  It is so important that Planning and Environmental Health officers ensure that the right conditions and clauses are put into the Section106 Legal Agreements. At Greenwich we have produced a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) on Planning Obligations, which sets out what the Council expects from developers and this makes things easier for everyone, especially developers, as it helps to avoid delays in the process especially later down the line.  The SPD is a material planning consideration for use in guiding and determining development proposals.”

Any advice for colleagues in Planning who are keen to adopt LES?

Without doubt the development of a LES has made it so much easier to deal with large developments. At a time when climate change is probably the greatest long term challenge and air pollution is a real concern, spatial planning has a major role in shaping and protecting our environment. LES without doubt will help to mitigate the transport impacts of development. To be successful though local authorities should ensure their Planning and Environmental Health officers work very closely and that guidance in the shape of LES and Supplementary Planning Documents on Planning Obligations are produced as a matter of priority.

The following is vital to success:

1. corporate working - establish good working relationships with colleagues in other departments;

2. ensure that engagement starts early in the process i.e., at pre-application stage or when planning application is first received and when formulating spatial policies;

3. when considering head of terms for Section 106 legal agreements ensure that environmental matters are covered and liaise with Environmental Health Officers;

4. be clear about your objectives and be positive in the approach to securing contributions through Section 106 Legal Agreements.