Planning for Sustainability

Sustainability is the central tenet of national planning policy.

Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 1: Delivering Sustainable Development (February 2005) states that, “planning should facilitate and promote sustainable and inclusive patterns of urban and rural development.”

In addition, a forthcoming Supplement to PPS 1 will make it clear that the Government wants the planning regime to play a pivotal role in meeting the challenge of climate change. For the first time, local planning authorities will have to ensure that all new development makes significant cuts in carbon emissions.

In PPS 3: Housing (November 2006) the Government has elevated the provision of family housing and access to gardens, play areas and parks as key policy objectives of the planning system for the first time. This policy places a requirement to ensure enough family housing is built, with a greater emphasis being placed on both the tenure and type of housing and a greater willingness by Local Authorities to reject poorly designed schemes.

We support these planning principles because we recognise that successful development is about more than bricks and mortar, it is about people. Our master planning therefore seeks to place people at its very heart. Whether we are regenerating an inner-city area or building on a greenfield site, we look to create places with their own character and identity.

• Our master plans promote character in townscape and landscape by responding to and reinforcing locally distinctive patterns of landscape, development, and culture.
• We ensure our master plans clearly define private areas and create a high quality, safe and attractive public realm.
• Landmarks help people find their way around, and a network of footpaths and cycleways connect local facilities.
• We promote adaptability through development that can respond to changing social, technological and economic conditions.
• Diversity and choice is promoted through a mix of compatible housing types and tenures, as well as uses that work together to create viable places that respond to local needs.

We create attractive and functional living environments designed to meet current and envisaged future lifestyles. In many of our mixed-use schemes we are integrating mixed-tenure housing with recreational, retail, leisure and office uses to create vibrant, balanced communities. Indeed, we differentiate ourselves by being able to deliver all the ingredients required in developing such communities.

Our approach is continually being informed by the following initiatives and memberships:

• The Group was a key partner, and the only developer, in WWF-UK’s ‘One Million Sustainable Homes Task Force’. The Task Force comprised partners from across a wide range of sectors and was responsible for implementing strategies to help overcome the key barriers to the development of sustainable homes. 
• Our membership of the South East England Development Agency’s (SEEDA) Sustainability Checklist Steering Group has facilitated the creation of a sustainability model for the development industry. This checklist is being used as a framework for each of the seven other Regional Development Agencies.
• We are also working with the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to assist them in developing their Sustainability Checklist.
• Our Head of Sustainability is a newly elected member of the Sustainable Development Round Table for the East of England following our Chairman, Alan Cherry’s completion of his three year tenure as Chairman of the Group.
• During the reporting period we planted more than 132,000 (2005: 96,000) new trees and shrubs to complement existing habitats and create new landscaped spaces on our developments.