Manchester: A Certain Future November 18, 2009

It effects you all, each and everyone of you.

This is the Climate Change Action Plan for the City.  Manchester: A Certain Future available on the SNAG documents page,  goes before scrutiny committee today.  Once ratified my the Council the document will be published and launched in December, coinciding with the UN Copenhagen Conference.  For more information on Copenhagen please see: http://en.cop15.dk/ or get in touch for info on Climate Change and what Manchester is doing to reduce it’s carbon footprint.

Best Wishes, Tim

The Infrastructure Planning Commission & National Policy Statements November 17, 2009

Listen Up!

The 2008 Planning Act introduced a new planning system for applications to build “nationally significant infrastructure” facilities in England and Wales.

National Policy Statements (NPSs) are the foundation of this new planning system, and they set out the Government’s policy on “nationally significant infrastructure”.  Twelve National Policy Statements are being prepared by the relevant Government departments, based on existing government policy.  Before being finalised, they will each be subject to public consultation and scrutiny by parliament:

• renewable energy – on and off shore
• fossil fuel power stations
• gas & oil supply and storage
• electricity networks – the grid
• nuclear power stations

These NPSs have been produced by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and are out for consultation from now until 22nd February 2010.

• ports
• national networks – rail and road
• airports

These NPSs are the work of the Department for Transport (DfT).  Ports is out for consultation from now until 15th February 2010; National Networks opens in spring 2010 and Aviation late next year.

• waste water
• hazardous waste
• water supply

These are being produced by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and will be out for consultation in spring, summer and autumn of next year respectively.

Under the new planning system the decision making for power for planning applications has been taken away from Government and placed in with the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC).  However, a quick look at there web-site revealed that they are part of Central Office of Information (COI) the Government’s centre of excellence for marketing and communications!  So how independent the IPC is I can’t say…

Until a NPS is formally designated by the Secretary of State, following public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, the IPC (although up and running) does not have the power to decide applications just yet.

So why get involved?

It is important to make your views known because once finalised the NPSs will provide the framework for future decisions by the IPC on individual applications.  Issues relating to the need for specific types of infrastructure will not be debated again.

Except for NPSs on nuclear power stations and airports, specific locations for infrastructure are not identified (meaning they could go anywhere whether you like it or not) although criteria may guide developers to appropriate types of area.

Planning Aid North West have provided me with some guidance on the NPSs out for consultation now, they can be found on the SNAG documents page: www.snag.org.uk/documents.  I’ll touch back on this in the new year once the Core Strategy and Waste Plan consultations are out of the way.

Best Wishes, Tim.

Greater Manchester Waste Plan November 17, 2009

Hi Everyone,

PREFERRED OPTION CONSULTATION

Following earlier stages of consultation on the Issues and Options for waste facilities and guiding policies we are now at the Preferred Option stage.  This stage brings all comments and information received at the previous stages of consultation, together with evidence developed as part of overall plan preparation, to develop the Preferred Option policy direction including setting out the waste capacity gap, site area allocations and development management policies.

Municipal waste only accounts for part of the total waste produced in Greater Manchester. Both Greater Manchester and Wigan Waste Disposal Authorities have developed Municipal Waste Management Strategies, to provide solutions for managing Municipal waste.  However, much larger quantities of other wastes such as commercial and industrial and construction and demolition still need to be managed and planned for.  In Greater Manchester this is being done through the development of the Joint Waste Development Plan Document (the Waste Plan).

The Preferred Option Report focuses on the following areas:

• Aim and Objectives;
• Future Waste Management Requirements;
• Sites and Areas Allocations;
• Site/Area Profiles;
• Additional Sites
• Development Management; and
• Monitoring and Implementation

The Preferred Option Report is being issued for consultation with relevant statutory stakeholders and other interested organisations and individuals.  There will be an 8 week consultation period from 13th November 2009 to Friday 8th January 2010.  It is important that people get involved now to comment on the Preferred Option approach described within the report. A Background Information document has also been prepared to support the Preferred Option Report, which sets out the detailed information behind the policy directions and data included within the main report

Although not a requirement at this stage of the plan process the Preferred Option Report is accompanied by a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) which is an independent process of weighing and assessing the policies and proposals in the Report for their social, environmental and economic impacts. A copy of the SA is available to view alongside the Preferred Option Report at public locations across Greater Manchester.

You can get involved via the website http://consult.gmwastedpd.co.uk/portal/wmpt/, using a web based form.  You will need to complete a short registration process and once submitted, your response will be automatically added to our database.

If you would rather fill out the paper form, please let me know and I’ll send you a form by post or by e-mail.  Or you can just e-mail or post a free-style written response to:

Postal Address: Planning Team, GMGU, 10th Floor, Emerson House, Albert Street, Eccles, M30

E-mail: planningteam@gmwastedpd.co.uk

Website: www.gmwastedpd.co.uk

Tel: 0161 779 6182

In addition to the preparation of a Joint Waste Plan, the ten Greater Manchester Authorities have agreed to produce another Joint Plan to cover the topic of minerals and associated issues within the sub region.  Your details will be automatically added to the database for this new Joint Minerals Plan and you will be contacted in due course regarding the first stage of consultation. If you wish to remove your details from this database please contact a member of the planning team as above.

Next SNPB Papers Out November 16, 2009

Hi All,

The papers for the next Sustainable Neighbourhoods Partnership Board meeting to be held on the 24th November 2009 are now available on the SNP documents page of this site:

www.snag.org.uk/documents/snp

Best Wishes, Tim.

SNP Forum / Core Strategy 8th December November 9, 2009

Hello All,

The SNP Forum scheduled for 8th December is no more : (

Instead Councillor Richard Cowell, Executive Member for Environment, on behalf of Manchester City Council, invites you to attend the Core Strategy Seminar  : ) !!!

So what is the difference?  Unlike a normal SNP Forum there will be some issues covered such as the Airport and Transport and Economy which aren’t aren’t normally discussed.

With the Core Strategy nearing its final stages Planning Strategy are keen to get your views on the Proposed Options document which can be found on the documents page of this website.  For the first time in this process, the Proposed Options proposed policy ideas in line with submissions from the last round of consultation, Refining Options.

The Event will be run in two sessions, one afternoon and one evening – see booking form below for details.

You get to choice which session to go to and which workshops you’d like to attend out of the following:

Housing, District Centres, Environment, Airport, Transport, Economy and General.

If you would like to attend please fill out the attached form:

Pre-Registration Form

It will be assumed that attendees have already read the document or at the very least chapters relevant to the workshops selected to attend.  SNAG members will be issued with a briefing paper which will summarize the content and the emerging policy.

Core Strategy Consultation October 30, 2009

OK we’re almost there now

Welcome to the Proposed Options Stage the Core Strategy for Manchester.  Consultation opens on Monday the 9th of November until 4th January 2009.

I can tell you that Option B was the most popular option following the refined options stage earlier this year (72% of us preferred B), which should please most of you no end.

As ever I’ll be sending a briefing paper to SNAG members ASAP to give you the low down on how the Proposed Option is shaping up.  Certainly none of the headline Spatial Policies have change, but I am yet to see if there is any devil in the detail; I should think not.

So what’s in the option which will lead to the flourishing of Manchester into a green and pleasant, sustainable 21st century haven of well-being and knowledge based industrial excellence?   I’ve only had a quick flick through so these are but my first impressions:

The usual slugs in the pottage include the preference of economic growth over economic development, airport growth (although there are mentions of high speed rail links) over greenbelt protection and a focus on development of the city centre as opposed to effectual sites for employment in the burbs.

I am picking up heightened levels of climate change related activity compared with the previous incarnation of this strategy but the dedicated climate change info measures just 1 small paragraph here and another one there on my climate change policyometer.  The waste management enthusiasts amongst you may find this rather disappointing.

So what’s coming up roses?  If I take number of pages as a proxy to the level of good policy, housing and design are smelling the sweetest.  Economic growth is of course the compost feeding everything in our great Mancunian City.

Watch this space.

Best Wishes, Tim.

SNP Forum – Climate Change Action Plan September 21, 2009

Dear All,

Sustainable Neighbourhoods Partnership Forum

You are invited to the next Forum: which will focus upon:

Climate Change Action in Manchester’s Neighbourhoods.

It will be held on: Wednesday 30^th September, 6-8pm
In: Committee Room 1, Manchester Town Hall.

The Forum will include a presentation from Richard Sharland, Head of Environmental Strategy, Manchester City Council.

The short presentation will be followed by facilitated workshops in which you will be encouraged to contribute constructive suggestions for priorities and actions.

The Green City Team have prepared this outline report about the CCAP.

If you would like to attend the Forum please inform Su Goldthorpe on the below details.

Please also forward this information to others as appropriate.

Best wishes, Tim.

s.goldthorpe@manchester.gov.uk

Tel 0161 234 4125

Corridor Manchester August 19, 2009

Investigations have been made into the utilities and services infrastructure of one of the Manchester’s most bustling areas.  The oxford Road Corridor is a major destination for work, education and health as well as for leisure act ivies and serving as a major transport artery to the south of the city.

Corridor Manchester is the new name for Manchester City South the partnership – a group of major institutions based in the corridor itself – which are working together to improve the area through their own programmes of development – but in a combined way.

This latest study investigates the capacity of the Oxford Road Corridor’s electricity and gas distribution network, sewerage and waste water systems and digital infrastructure (i.e. the stuff which enables us to make a phone call or use the internet and watch cable.)  It also predicts the demand that planned and future developments along the corridor such as new buildings for example will have on these infrastructures and what if any extra capacity must be installed to meet this demand.

The Executive Summary of this report is available here and my notes which are pretty similar but worded a little less “executively” are here.

Transforming Places August 3, 2009

In July 2008, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published their draft Framework for Regeneration known as ‘transforming places; changing lives’. Following a consultation period Urban Forum produced this document which sets out how the government is taking forward the delivery of a new national framework to shape the way that regeneration is carried out in England.

This document can be seen here UF Transforming Places

Latest EAP July 24, 2009

Hello,

Well a very short meeting but one attended at least by the Leader Sir Richard.  It always makes me a little happier when the big guns turn up.

Right so what happened?  Er…  I have to say not very much sadly.  In a nut shell “The main thrust of the discussion centred around the divide between focus on mitigation at the expense of adaptation or we can and should do both because they are so interlinked it wouldn’t work any other way.” At the end of the meeting I couldn’t help that many were still on the fence or were slightly confused as to whether a decision had been made.

There were no matters arising from the previous minutes and they were passed as a true and accurate reflection of the previous session.

There was a very short talk through the minutes of the ESPB meeting held on 9th July to which the only comment from the panel was to question the dedication of ESPB officers sitting on the Board due to apologies given and/or deputies sent.  It is worth mentioning here that there a very many number of other meetings – meetings with contractors, developers, GONW, service providers which may very well take priority over business meetings because no attendance would slow delivery.  There are also great efforts going into informing officers of potential and significant initiatives such as the Deep Geothermal seminar which was held in a full Lord Mayor’s Parlour.

There followed a question as to the scrutiny of  environmental strategy with suggestions the OSC should be doing more perhaps to drive the agenda forward as should input from opposition councillors.  Sir Richard answered accordingly that OSCs don’t drive forward anything – they scrutinise; neither do opposition councillors, so perhaps engaging with both the executive and the party in power might be a more successful method of driving any agenda.

The last item on the agenda was “the role and remit of the 5 thematic groups” but this seemed to be abandoned in favour of discussing mitigation vs adaptation.  Arguments included but were not exhaustive of:

• the headline aim of the CCAP is to reduce emission by a minimum of 1m tonnes;
• focus on mitigation but where ever possible include adaptation issues if they do not detract from the emissions reductions;
• focus on mitigation but remember that some mitigation exercises will direct us away from a the end goal of low carbon lifestyles…

Although I failed to see any concrete adoption of any of the above – I sensed that the the second argument got the most votes in people’s minds.

Obviously from a Transition point of view, it is important to start from a vision – the end goal and working backwards plan each and every move so that all mitigation and adaptation can be planned to achieve the vision.  I think the problem here is that we have until mid September to sort something out.  Time is a luxury right now that we can’t afford.  So mitigation first, then with more time on our side, construct the adaptation plans (which as was pointed out are largely determined by what happens in Copenhagen anyway) post December.

Worth mentioning that adaptation here = climate change adaptation such as flood defense and not behavioural adaptation – which is a worry.  Other points to develop at a later date are international connections and interactions, using the core cities to progress national transition thinking and peak oil.  (I did plant the question of peak oik and where its related issues fits into the CCAP; the response was that CCAP Energy Group will cover this, to which I responded it’s not really an energy issue it’s re-skilling and behavioural change issue.  A debate perhaps for another time…?).

Thoughts on a postcard please… you know the address, Tim.