On Monday, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) published an interesting briefing called ‘Planning for net zero’. Aimed to provide impartial advice to members of parliament, the briefing looked at what changes could be made to the planning system that would help the UK reach its 2050 net zero target.
The ‘POSTnote’ considered planning issues linked to the energy sector, housing, development and transport. And its overall message was that we need a more strategic and joined-up national approach to planning. It points out that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have national spatial plans, but that England doesn’t.
One of the big issues for local authorities is where they are going to put the 1.5 million new homes that the Government wants to see constructed during this Parliament. And for those responsible for local road networks, there’s the question of how these new homes, and the car drivers who live in them, will impact on the roads around them.
Forecasts made by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2022 point to a future of greater congestion and more delays for road users, with predictions for what would happen under a range of different future scenarios. The DfT found that at one extreme, if everyone switches to electric and autonomous vehicles, traffic is projected to grow by 54% between 2025 and 2060. At the other end of the scale, if people’s behaviour changes significantly, so that many use public transport and active travel rather than cars, the increase could be just 8%.
Given the struggle that local authorities face to maintain roads in a good condition today with limited budgets, a future where there is significantly more traffic only ups the ante. More traffic means more roads failing early and more money needed for repair and resurfacing.
The briefing reports that the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) wants to see locations of new housing developments selected with the aim of influencing behavioural changes that will allow residents to achieve net zero living. In other words, we need to be strategic with where we put our new housing developments and ensure that public transport options are in place before people move in – or they will use their cars on day one, be less likely to switch to public transport if and when it is provided, and roads will just get busier.
Combined authorities could be well placed to deliver a more holistic approach to planning which encompasses housing, energy generation, development, resourcing and skills, says the briefing. It mentions Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which contributed to the research, commenting that the authority has had some success in allocating housing targets with local planning authorities through its spatial development strategy.
What the briefing underlines is that there are many pieces in the jigsaw that will make up net zero, and that we need to find a way for all those pieces to fit together. Let’s see if the MPs that it was written for find it as interesting reading as we did!
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