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Sustainable Urban Environmental Planning - Community Plans - DRAFT PAPER © Anne Beer, Text and maps Background Notes This section examines how the environmental planning process can aid in particular:
It is not intended to deal with the vast range of issues raised by the concept of sustainability as it relates to city planning (see Breheny ed., 1992, Jenks et al, 1996, UK Government, 1994), but rather rather to concentrate on those issues that relate directly to the site planners' activities concerning specific areas of land. The concern for environmental sustainability has led many countries to produce new legislation, as well as official directives and advisory documents, relating to the land use planning process; the problem now is how to stimulate local action and it is this issue that this chapter addresses. In the UK national level documents giving advice on environmental sustainability issues as they relate to the land use planning and site planning process include: Sustainable Development: The UK Strategy (1994); Planning Policy Guidelines -PPG13: a Guide to Better Practice (1995); and Planning for Sustainable Development: Towards Better Practice (1998). These documents do much to indicate the vital part that the planning system has to play in promoting more sustainable land use patterns and use of resources; they show how plans can be drawn up which, as far as possible, promote development which is sustainable and recognise that it is not only town planners who are involved in this development process, but many other organisations and individuals. As a direct result, local authorities have been busy reconsidering all their strategies and policies with reference to their impact on the environment, and Agenda 21 statements of intent are becoming more common at all levels of government. However, much remains to be done to turn intentions into 'actions on the ground' and to make the very real changes in people's behaviour patterns which are essential if we are to move towards a more sustainable use and management of the land. Recommended reading for those who may be unfamiliar with the concepts of sustainability as they relate to land use, land management and site planning is: Planning for Sustainable Development: Towards Better Practice (DETR, UK Government, 1998); Ecopolis: strategies for ecologically sound urban development (S. Tjallingii, 1995); Regenerative design for sustainable development (John T. Lyle, 1996); Ecological design and planning (Steiner, F.R. and Thompson, G.F. eds., 1997); Planning sustainable urban environments (A.R. Beer, MAP21 Ltd, 1998); Sustainable Urban Developments: research and experiments (van der Vecht, H. et al (eds.), 1993); The Ringkøping Seminar of the European Network on Greenspace (see http://www.arbeer.demon.co.uk). Information specific to the scope of Local Agenda 21 can be obtained on: http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/sustainable/la21/policy. It is hoped that the following information can be used as a source of ideas; it is not intended as prescriptive advice. The environmental planning process is international in application. Each site, however, is different; the use people need to make of it is also different and the resources available can vary. For these reasons you should always expect the locally appropriate and sustainable solution to be different on each site, achieved after thorough consideration of local conditions and the people involved. The process described here helps to ensure that these conditions and their implications for site development are understood.
The need for a community level environmental planning process
All too often as cities have expanded and man-made features have come to dominate local landscapes, it has been forgotten that the natural processes still operate on any area of land. The river valleys are still there and ignoring their existence has led us to build in places subject to flooding, with catastrophic consequences for affected populations. The rains still come or fail, causing floods or droughts over which we have little real control and with which the complex water management systems that we have devised to bring water to cities and farmland, or to hold back floodwater, cannot always cope. The winds still blow and the sun still shines, causing the atmospheric conditions which accentuate the air quality problems linked to our land use patterns and transportation systems. While our cities have been devised to cope with a range of natural forces, we have tended to neglect the extremes at great economic and social cost (see Hough, 1989, Spirn. 1984 and McHarg, 1995). In order to develop a more sustainable approach to existing as well as future urban developments, we need to have a better understanding of how successfully our present built-up areas - urban, suburban and urban fringe - work with the local natural environmental factors. For instance:
Once we have answered these questions about the local area, we should consider what needs to be changed, so as to enhance environmental sustainability in existing areas of development. To do this we need to consider the impact of any proposed changes, not only on the natural environment, but also on economic and social factors. The understanding developed by the local people through this process will also help them to work as a community group and, together with local officials, to generate the strategies and policies necessary to guide future 'actions' towards environmental sustainability, in particular in relation to local land use patterns and land management regimes.
LOCAL PEOPLE HAVE A VITAL ROLE IN PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR THEIR COMMUNITY.
In order to be in a position to make effective decisions about the sustainability of the way land is used and managed within an existing community, it is necessary to examine how effectively the water, waste, energy, transport and biodiversity issues are dealt with at present. To begin the process of developing what is termed here a Community Environmental Plan, which will identify locally 'actions' required to achieve a greater level of sustainability in the future, data about the local area and its people must be gathered and assessed. This assessment needs to be carried out both in relation to the objectives of any official local planning documents (talk to the local planning authority) and in relation to any national performance criteria (see your national government's Internet sites on environmental issues), before going on to work out what local changes are needed in land use and land management This information also needs to be stored in an accessible format* for long-term use by local people and officials, to monitor the effectiveness of local 'actions' and to ensure that the planning and decision making processes are open to all interested parties (this is not an issue dealt with here but methods such as developing websites or storing data on CDs are at present economically viable and cheaper than printed matter).
The planning process To make an assessment of the local environment, data first needs to be gathered about the local abiotic, biotic, social, cultural and economic conditions. The simplest method is to gather this data through a series of topic studies; some can be undertaken by members of the local community but others need appropriate professional expertise. Once the basic data is assembled, the more challenging phase of developing an understanding of what it all means in the local situation can begin. This involves examining the interactions between, for example, topography, land use and energy consumption, or between built form, public open spaces and biodiversity. One of the great advantages of working at the level of communities is how much basic local knowledge about the environment is held by local people - often without their being aware just how much they know and the implications of that knowledge. Data gathering, therefore, more often involves developing a means of encouraging local people to pool their information about the diverse parts of the whole, rather than starting, as an outside professional otherwise would, with the data available from published sources, since this is often of very limited value at the local level. Community environmental planning is a very different process from the formal system set up by planning authorities concerned with decision making to meet legal requirements over large areas. In the longer-term it may be that the information provided by community level environmental studies could help to make the wider, official land use and land management planning process more sensitive in its application. It is envisaged that the development of a very local level planning mechanism, such as that described here to produce a Community Environmental Plan, will enable local communities to target their 'actions' on the ground and financial resources more effectively. If we are to enhance local levels of environmental sustainability through the way in which communities interact with the local environment, then it is through local 'actions' and changes in the behaviour patterns of members of specific communities that this will be achieved, rather than through rules and regulations imposed from above through the planning process. This does not negate the role of the official planning mechanisms, however, since they deal with wider economic and social issues, linking both national and regional needs to the planning of a specific local administrative area.
THE STOCKSBRIDGE CASE STUDY
The process that is described is being used to prepare a community plan for Stocksbridge, an outlying district of Sheffield. An initial case study was undertaken on a voluntary basis over a period of six weeks in 1998 by a multi-disciplinary group of young professionals; they came from various environmental disciplines and worked on this local environmental planning study as part of their postgraduate training in the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield (http://www.sheffield.ac.uk). Their involvement was at the request of members of the Stocksbridge community. They worked with elected representatives and with staff from the two main local community organisations: the Steel Valley Partnership and the Stocksbridge Training and Enterprise Partnership (STEP). Their task was to gather and record local data and to explore the potential for achieving a greater level of sustainability in the use and management of the land and landscape within the built-up area. Based on this information the community will be developing its own local environmental 'actions' for implementation in the coming years. The working group was fortunate to have access to a wealth of data assembled during 1998 by two environmental graduates employed by STEP to work on Local Agenda 21 under a training scheme. Their findings can be viewed on the following website: http://www.stocksbridge.demon.co.uk/stocksbridge. Maps relating to the Stocksbridge study can be accessed by clicking the Maps - Case study link in the menu to the right
Sources of environmental data Availability of environmental data is extremely variable. As an example of what to look for, the data identified for the Stocksbridge District study is detailed here.
Stocksbridge
Township, is situated approximately 10 miles to the
north west of the city of Sheffield. Barnsley lies
some 11 miles north east of the town, with
Manchester 35 miles to the west. The District
covers an area of 16 sq.km, stretching from the
Pennines down to the border of Barnsley District.
There is a diversity of landscapes, which reflect
the community's economic, social and cultural
evolution, as well as the underlying geology. This
diversity has given the area its distinct
character, history and economic profile, and the
local geology has influenced the pattern of
settlement, industrial development and cultural
identity. There is a strong sense of place and the
people retain a sense of belonging despite an
influx of 'outsiders' in recent decades. The
built-up part of the District which is the subject
of the background study used to illustrate this
chapter, referred to here as the Township, covers
almost 4 sq.km. The district of Stocksbridge lies within the administrative district of Sheffield Metropolitan District (600,000). Since the town and the environmental planning of this area are the responsibility of Sheffield City Council, the working group took as its point of departure the need to fulfil the aims, objectives and proposals of Sheffield City's Unitary Development Plan (SCC, 1998) and the City's Policy Statements in relation to Local Agenda 21 (SCC, 1998). Much basic environmental data about the Township was available in published format. For instance, information on topography and built form came from maps printed and kept up to date by the Ordnance Survey; information on geology and soils came from the maps produced by the Geological Survey of Great Britain and the Soil Survey of England & Wales, and information relating to nature conservation issues came from maps prepared over the past decade by Sheffield City Council, which indicate all the natural features within the city boundary of any specific interest for conservation purposes and also show whether they are designated of national, regional or local importance. Historical records held by the Sheffield City Libraries were used as the source for much of the data on local industrial developments and the associated expansion of the urban area; this was supplemented by data from the Local History Group in Stocksbridge. Information was readily available on the substantial areas of land within the Township owned and managed by Sheffield City Council, but ownership of much of the rest of the land could not be established in the time available. Full census data was obtained, but the most recent was nine years old; it was supplemented by some of the more recent work estimating social trends and the quality of life undertaken by the City and by data from other public health and economic agencies in Sheffield. This latter data included information on health, education, skills and jobs, as well as other local economic indicators. The working group had access to the environmental data already gathered by the local community. This included data from the City (air quality, waste disposal and recycling, traffic flows and biodiversity) and the Environment Agency (air quality, water quality, sources and levels of pollution, contaminated soils, landfill sites, etc.) A limited amount of locally relevant data was also available from those private agencies which are responsible for the provision of water and disposal of sewage (water company) and energy (gas and electricity companies). This data is not complete and indeed much of it proved to be very superficial and generalised and of limited use to those making decisions at the very local level. The local Passenger Transport Authority provided information on timetables and bus stops, and in addition details about the community's own project to improve access to facilities by running a local mini-bus transport service were available. A pilot social survey had been undertaken by the STEP Local Agenda 21 group, which aimed to investigate local people's reaction to various environmental issues and their willingness to be involved in community based schemes. However, for financial reasons this never proceeded beyond the pilot stage and the findings can only be seen as general indicators. In addition, the working group had access to a wide range of the information now available in the UK, as in most other countries, on Local Agenda 21, which is the driving force behind the recent recognition of the need for local level environmental planning. Any reader unfamiliar with this data should access the relevant pages of their government's website; in the UK a starting point is http://www.detr.gov.uk. Other useful but more informal webpages have been set up by Friends of the Earth (http://www.foe.co.uk) and similar environmental organisations.
* In forming an approach to Local Agenda 21, the local community group involved in the Stocksbridge case study began to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) using a user-friendly product, MAP INFO. At the time of writing their community level GIS has been used to hold data about the built-up area and to enable some interactive examination of the factual data about the different parts of the case study area. This GISpresently being expanded to included ecologicalk data and assessments.
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Sustainable
Communities - local action
click here to RETURN TO COST C11 WEBSITE
Sustainable
Communities - local action
Sustainable
Communities - local action
Sustainable
Communities - local action
Sustainable
Communities - local action
Sustainable
Communities - local action
click here to RETURN TO COST C11 WEBSITE
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