As a result of climate change, Britain is likely to face more extremes of weather in future, with warmer, wetter winters and hotter summers with more thunderstorms.
Now that funding has been secured, major infrastructure projects planned for the Hoo Peninsula will begin, followed by house building on a huge scale. Cllr Jarrett is on record as recognising the importance of providing sustainable growth, so can he please advise what specific safeguards have been or will be put in place by Medway Council to ensure that all development on the Hoo Peninsula takes into account the climate emergency and will be designed to fully meet the needs of our future changed climate?
Minutes:
“As a result of climate change, Britain is likely to face more extremes of weather in future, with warmer, wetter winters and hotter summers with more thunderstorms.
Now that funding has been secured, major infrastructure projects planned for the Hoo Peninsula will begin, followed by house building on a huge scale. Cllr Jarrett is on record as recognising the importance of providing sustainable growth, so can he please advise what specific safeguards have been or will be put in place by Medway Council to ensure that all development on the Hoo Peninsula takes into account the climate emergency and will be designed to fully meet the needs of our future changed climate?”
Councillor Jarrett thanked Mr Dyke for his question. He said that Medway Council had declared a climate emergency in April 2019 and supported the Kent and Medway Energy and Low Emissions Strategy; clean, sustainable growth was at the heart of the Strategy that would be presented to Members of the Council in due course.
A rolling five-year climate change Action Plan was currently being developed with a key priority of the Plan being the development of the emerging Local Plan, including policies to promote low carbon development and transport.
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 required Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to include in their Local Plans ‘policies designed to secure that the development and use of land in the LPA’s area contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change’. The Local Plan would be subject to a Sustainability Appraisal which included consideration of the impacts, both negative and positive, of proposed policies and allocations on climate change.
Councillor Jarrett said that Medway Council was commissioning a study of the potential for district heating distribution networks, which included the Hoo Peninsula. Sustainability was embedded in the Hoo Development Framework, which was currently being developed by the Planning Service, to provide guidance on the principles and approaches to securing sustainable growth on the Hoo Peninsula. The Framework would set out the sustainable location of services, neighbourhoods and transport.
Medway Council was undertaking an Environmental Impact Assessment for the Road and Rail schemes, and all works would be subject to rigorous testing via the planning process and stakeholder and community consultation.
The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) for Hoo was providing a new rail facility linking passengers to the Medway stations and to London Charing Cross.
He said that the new road and environmental schemes were being designed and costed to provide long term improvements in walking and cycling provision. Together, these investments would assist in delivering sustainable transport options for both current and growing communities on the Hoo Peninsula to support a low carbon future.
Councillor Jarrett said that a key air quality issue had been the impact of queuing traffic on Four Elms Hill. The new road infrastructure would significantly reduce queuing traffic and contribute to improving local air quality.
He concluded by stating that the HIF bid would see investment in a network of new and accessible parkland areas. These would be areas of value for wildlife and for people. Trees and hedges would be planted to address hotter summers, creating new wetland and meadows to help address wetter winters alongside traffic free walking and cycling routes. This would be in addition to the provision of Sustainable Urban Drainage Scheme and good urban design.