My first day back in London and I’ve spent the morning schmoozing at a publication launch just off the Mall. Five minutes out of my cattle stall and I’m already moving and shaking. It was an event to publicise the TCPA’s new document, Community Energy: Urban Planning for a Low Carbon Future, and it attracted quite a crowd including MPs Nick Hurd and Keith Hill.
During the presentations and panel discussion, most people in the room seemed to feel that local authorities have the pivotal role to play in the creation of low carbon distributed energy networks. I totally agree, but I think we were missing part of the picture.
Maybe because of the venue (the Town and Country Planning Association), the focus seemed to be on the power of planners – and, by extension, on new developments. But it’s very clear that new developments are a small part of the problem. If we’re going to meet our carbon reduction targets, we urgently need to address existing stock.
From the discussion, two key points emerged to highlight the importance of LAs. First, since PPS 1, LAs can now compel new buildings to be district heating ready. Second, LAs own and operate a huge portfolio of existing stock (residential and non-resi). Using the long term supply contracts for this portfolio as a carrot, LAs can more successfully attract private sector investment.
But by focusing on planners, we’re ending up with a collection of new developments, relatively small, that are ready to be hooked up to hypothetical future infrastructure. This central infrastructure has to move from hypothetical to concrete. There are two key elements missing in this planning focused approach:
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The development of a coordinated heat strategy (at the city or regional level) and the creation of transmission and backbone distribution infrastruture
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A strategy for getting existing stock on the networks
At one point, the awesome and underspoken Pernille Overbye from Ramboll was telling us about the process in the 70’s and 80’s of moving Danish buildings onto the district heat networks that now serve over 60% of the country. Once the target areas were identified, the owners and occupants in those areas simply didn’t have a choice. At the time there was an outcry. Now people are queueing up to get onto the network. The UK may need to follow the same route if it is to achieve its carbon targets and alleviate the worst effects of climate change.
Local authorities will need to take responsibility for developing heat strategies for their areas, including backbone infrastructure, probably in partnership with private sector companies. At the same time they’ll need to strongly encourage not only new schemes but also existing buildings to hook up.
These are huge challenges that will require central government backing and a large campaign of public engagement (the proper kind – not the nuclear kind) to get people on side. So I agree the planners will have a part to play, but they won’t be able to do it on their own.
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