Sustainable Communities
 
A ‘Sustainable Communities Plan’ was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in February 2003. The plan highlights four growth areas – Thames Gateway, London-Stanstead-Cambridge-Peterborough corridor, Ashford and Milton Keynes-South Midlands. Over 1 million homes are to be built in these areas by 2016 – approximately 200,000 over and above those proposed in existing regional planning guidance, in order to address an apparent discrepancy between supply and demand. This area faces serious resource pressures (e.g. water resources and waste management capacity) and risks as a result of climate change (e.g. increased flooding) in coming decades. If new housing development is to take place in this part of the country it is essential that this meets strict and ambitious environmental standards and is accompanied by the requisite investment in infrastructure. 

CIWEM acknowledges that the UK has a growing population which needs to be housed.  We welcome the fact that the Sustainable Communities Plan attempts to address issues that have previously received scant attention when planning for growth and regeneration.  However, we are concerned that if the Plan is to deliver a real step change in building, as is claimed, it must go much further otherwise we do not believe the outcome will justify the use of the term ‘sustainable’.  CIWEM considers that for a community to be sustainable it should conform to the three ‘pillars’ of sustainable development, i.e. balance economic growth, protection of the environment, and social equity.

We suggest that a truly long-term perspective is required when considering the impact of the plan on the country as a whole.   We consider that the present focus of the plan is weighted far too heavily towards housing expansion in the South-East, and that this constitutes a repetition of previous ‘predict and provide’ approaches to planning.  Instead, we would urge the Government to facilitate development and growth in presently declining regions in the North and the Midlands, rather than placing yet more pressure on the already stretched infrastructure and environment of the South-East. 

Press info

CIWEM calls for ODPM rethink on Sustainable Communities Plan

Resource documents

Sustainable Communities policy document

Recommendations for a sustainable water future 

'Securing the Future’ – article by Nick Reeves, CIWEM Executive Director

Presentations from the session ‘Sustainable Communities: Form, Function and the Environment’ at CIWEM National Conference, September 2005:

Peter Matthew, ODPM Head of Liveability and Sustainable Communities Division
Sustainable Communities Plan and the Environment (0.5MB Powerpoint file)

 Colin Fenn Chair of CIWEM’s Water Resources Panel and MD of HR Wallingford
Water resources and Sustainable Communities (6MB Powerpoint file)

 Duncan Huggett, CIWEM ARC Panel and Environment Agency
Sustainable Communities and Flood Risk Management (5MB Powerpoint file)

David Edwards of Exsite
Brownfields and the Sustainable Communities Plan (6MB Powerpoint file)