CLC1 : Climate Change

Policy CLC1: A Carbon Neutral, Climate Adapted Borough

The Plan will reduce Basingstoke and Deane borough’s carbon footprint to support the council’s climate emergency declaration and ecological emergency declaration. The council will implement spatial planning policies, which together with other mechanisms, will enable the borough to become carbon neutral by 2030. This will require radical and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

To support this target, and to respond to the changes to the climate that are already occurring, new development will reduce carbon emissions and other greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change in line with the following principles:

1. Minimising the whole life greenhouse gas emissions of new development; Operational energy will be reduced in accordance with the energy hierarchy with a focus upon energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy; Embodied carbon will be minimised through sustainable design approaches (as detailed in Policy ENV11);
2. New homes will be ultra-low energy, use low carbon heat, contribute to the generation of renewable energy on-site and be constructed with low levels of embodied carbon (as detailed in Policy ENV11);
3. Minimising emissions from transport by ensuring the design, layout and location of new development minimises the need to travel (as detailed in Policy SPS5);
4. Delivering a significant modal shift by prioritising Active Travel (walking and cycling) and other forms of movement that result in no emissions as well as the increased use of public transport, in line with the Basingstoke Transport Strategy or its successor (as detailed in Policy INF2);
5. Supporting low carbon lifestyles and the low carbon economy, including communication technologies with scope to meet future changes as they arise as well as the use of electric cars (as detailed in Policies EMP1 and INF2);
6. Supporting the decarbonisation of existing homes and industry (as detailed in Policy ENV11);
7. Maximising green infrastructure to sequester carbon, provide urban cooling, deliver biodiversity net gains, and provide natural flood management (as detailed in Policies ENV6 and ENV7);
8. Optimising opportunities for renewable and low carbon energy generation, decentralised energy and heating and utilisation of waste heat (as detailed in Policy ENV13);
1. Keeping fossil fuels in the ground (as detailed in Policy ENV11);
10. Minimising water use and waste arising from the construction and use of buildings (as detailed in Policy ENV12);
11. Directing development to locations that minimise risks arising from climate change (as detailed in Policy ENV10); and
50. Promoting adaptation measures and reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change (as detailed in Policy ENV12).