Climate Change and Energy

Category Background

To ensure that new developments are appropriately adapted to the impacts of present and future climate change and to minimise their own impact on greenhouse gases, flooding, heat gain, water resources and water quality.

“In recent years, the evidence that significant climate change is occurring on a global scale has become increasingly compelling. These changes will particularly affect England, and research suggests that the South East could be more affected by these changes than other regions. The precise impacts of climate change are not clear, although there will be some opportunities as well as problems. It is, however, already evident that climate change will particularly affect many facets of development and land use. The Plan is therefore put forward in this context, and on the basis that challenging measures for mitigation and adaptation relating to climate change will increasingly need to be acted upon over the Plan period.” Draft South East Plan Part 1: Core Regional Policies – July 2005 Section D1 para 1.5

The South East is expected to face more severe weather events, with warmer winters and between 10-30% more rainfall. Summers are expected to be hotter and to have less rainfall. More variable weather patterns are also expected. The average temperature is expected to rise by 1.5 degrees centigrade by 2020 – well within the lifetime of developments planned and built today. (from the SE Climate Change Partnership).

“The South East is one of the driest parts of the country and experiences high levels of water demand. In some areas the existing balance of supply to demand is very sensitive, with demand close to exceeding currently available sustainable supply. The ecological quality of some streams, rivers and wetlands is being adversely affected as a result.” Draft South East Plan Part 1: Core Regional Policies – July 2005 Section D5 para 3.1

Fresh water resources are expected to become more scarce. South East water consumption per head is the highest in the UK and rainfall per head is the lowest, with 70% of supplies from groundwater.

“In order to be more sustainable, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve security and diversity of supply, we must improve energy efficiency and increase the amount of energy obtained from renewable sources. New development, while only representing a small proportion of overall stock, presents an opportunity to integrate higher standards of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies” Draft South East Plan Part 1: Core Regional Policies – July 2005 Section D5 para 2.10

By 2020, the region has a target to achieve 10% of energy generation from renewable sources, and integrated (ie designed into buildings) and on-site (where appropriate) renewable technologies will play an important role in meeting this target.

With these policy issues in mind, this section of the checklist addresses:

  • Designing developments for flood resilience, and to reduce the contribution made to flash flooding,
  • Reducing overheating and “heat island” effects to reduce the need for air conditioning whilst maintaining occupier comfort,
  • Maximising the availability of harvested rain and grey water for appropriate use on the development to reduce the demand for freshwater,
  • Ensuring energy efficiency is designed into the development from the earliest design stages, in a comprehensive and cost efficient manner,
  • Maximising opportunities to generate and supply renewable energy on the development as part of an overall energy strategy,
  • Making occupiers aware of their energy consumption.

Supporting pages

This checklist has been replaced

All planning applications received from 13 July 2011 requiring the submission of a checklist at Validation stage must include a new version of the checklist.

Further information is available from the Brighton & Hove Sustainability Checklist website.

This checklist will remain online to allow existing users to reference their existing projects. New accounts and projects can no longer be created.