Town and Country Planning Association
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The TCPA Sustainable Housing Forum

Current TCPA Projects

The TCPA Sustainable Housing Forum

The TCPA Sustainable Housing Forum forms the latest step in the TCPA's continuing work on the implications for changing over to more sustainable forms of development. The SHF was established in March 2002 and aims to:
  • Showcase innovation and best practice
  • Inspire the rest to catch up with the best
  • Save consumers’ money through specific recommendations for improving the energy, waste and water efficiency of their homes
  • Highlight the economic, social and environmental advantages of better design for business, the consumer and the environment
  • Mobilise stakeholders and regulators to demand more sustainable homes
  • Make specific policy and design recommendations to government and industry

Current Work

The Sustainable Housing Forum supports regional assemblies and local planning authorities in preparing strong sustainable construction policies for Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Documents.

The new TCPA Sustainable Housing Forum guidance sets out how spatial planning – at local and regional levels - can improve quality of life, reduce the impacts of climate change, and help to prevent future climate chaos through carbon-neutral development. The guide offers step-by-step advice on:
  • Promoting high energy efficiency standards to reduce CO2 emissions
  • Reducing the need and propensity to travel by car
  • Promoting small- and large-scale renewable energy projects
  • Rethinking the design and layout of communities to take account of environmental limits and promote sustainable growth for the 21st century.
This is a live web based tool. Detailed information, case studies and resources are available on the web sites below and will be updated regularly.
Download the summary guidance: Sustainable design and construction: Guidance for planners on preparing development plan policies at the local and regional levels.
Further detailed guidance for regional planners

Further detailed guidance for local planners

For further information contact Robert Shaw on 0207 930 8903 policy@tcpa.org.uk

Existing Publications

In October 2003 the SHF publshed its first report, jointly with WWF, which considered the changes needed to the planning system and building regulations in order to ensure sustainable housing becomes mainstream. Download the forum's report: Building Sustainably: How to Plan and Construct New Housing for the 21st Century (Adobe pdf format, 1.6Mb)

Press Release 11.10.03

View Sustainable Housing Forum Interim Report

Best practice case studies

Related Work

EcoSE:Partnership for Better Buildings in the South East
EcoSE is a key strategic partnership in the Southeast of England. The group, set up in May 2003 by the Environment Agency consists of a range of organisations from the public and private sector. For further information, visit www.ecose.org.uk

Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act, 2004
What it is and what it proposes - a TCPA Briefing on the Bill
To follow the progress of the bill, visit www.parliament.uk

WWF-UK have recently published its One Planet Living in the Thames Gateway report, which complements the work of the Forum.
http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/thamesgateway.pdf (Adobe PDF format, 655Kb)

Schools and Education Buildings That Don’t Cost The Earth produced by Somerset Trust for Sustainable Development (STSD) with support from WWF

APaNGO Update

APaNGO - Advocacy, Participation and NGOs in Planning

APaNGO is a transnational partnership project part-funded by the European Union’s Interreg IIIB programme for North West Europe (NWE).

The TCPA is the lead partner on a European project called APaNGO, which is an international network of organisations developing cutting edge skills and resources to enhance community engagement in planning. Our aims are to secure a sustainable future and create attractive, successful towns and cities. For further information please see: www.apango.eu

The APaNGO Interim Report 1 is now available covering the findings from the first stage background research. This consisted of desk studies of the seven Member States in North West Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, and the UK) and analysis of the responses to an extensive questionnaire survey.

Following an outline of the research methods used, the report provides a summary of the main challenges and trends in advocacy and participation in planning and development in North West Europe.

APaNGO project final conference will be held in Brussels on 29 & 30 October 2007