Overview
In response to declaring a Climate Emergency, Spelthorne Borough Council sought clear, robust and actionable planning and design guidance to support ambitious goals. We developed an accessible, graphically led supplementary planning document (SPD) that integrated with the development management process and encompasses all aspects of development from climate change mitigation through to adaptation.
Project Highlights
Clients
Spelthorne Borough Council
Date
2023 - Present
Scale
Council wide
The challenge given to us by Spelthorne Borough Council meant we needed to think about Planning and Design in a more critical light. What we produced should comprehensively address issues in a clear and user-friendly way, and help them progress toward their 2030 Net Zero target.
Owen Reading, Associate, David Lock Associates
The Project
Spelthorne Borough Council (SBC) declared a climate emergency with the aim of progressing to Net Zero carbon status by 2030. The council commissioned supplementary planning guidance to help advance this goal through the planning system and articulate how urban design, architecture and planning can support sustainability and contribute to tackling climate change. While the guidance aligns with the currently adopted 2009 Core Strategy, the SPD is strategically designed to support the emerging Local Plan to 2037, which when adopted, will include more robust climate change and environmental policy.
The Process
Our team created an accessible, concise and graphically led document, purposefully designed to simplify complex issues and signpost to industry-leading guidance. The document revolves around six key themes: energy, transport, materials construction and waste, green infrastructure, water, and space and place design. These themes, together, cover a spectrum of issues from emissions reduction to the adaptation of places to cope with the effects of climate change. Each theme has clear principles to follow and includes illustrative example places at different scales; neighbourhood, street and home, to show how the principles can be practically applied.
Combining our urban design and planning expertise, we designed clear checklists to guide different scales of planning application, which will form part of the validation list for future applicants.