Planning for climate change in new communities 

Lachlan Anderson-Frank shares a recap of our webinar that explored the practical realities of addressing climate impact and mitigation in large-scale new communities. 

Ambitious net zero targets

We heard from two ambitious authorities who have recently had policies found sound that put forward ambitious net zero energy efficiency targets for new buildings as part of their new settlements – Salt Cross in Oxfordshire and the TCB Garden Community project in Essex.

Both projects have seen extensive evidence base work to justify the viability of these requirements, as well as significant community support and a major legal challenge to defend the legality of local authorities setting their own standards above and beyond building regulations. 

The TCPA’s recently updated resource page gathers together the latest information to help local authorities navigate this so they can consider their options: TCPA Resource: Setting local plan policies for net zero buildings 

There were a number of interesting points of discussion around net zero – for example, thinking about embodied carbon in schemes, and even a policy approach dealing with minerals and waste in Essex and how this sector is transitioning towards net zero.

At Salt Cross, the ambitious approach isn’t just about the energy efficiency standards of homes – they are also targeting 25% BNG and 50% green space, highlighting the importance of an exemplary development to the local community – to make Salt Cross the best it can be. The Council worked with local universities to develop this approach and it has recently been recognised by the likes of Homes England as exemplary. 

Water smart communities

We then heard from Cat Moncrieff – Policy Manager at the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, which is running a new project called Enabling Water Smart Communities, funded by Ofwat.

Cat highlighted the many shared challenges between the water and housing sectors, including over 100,000 homes currently delayed due to water scarcity and issues with water treatment infrastructure. This series of projects and enabling actions is investigating a wide range of things that planners can do to address these issues, including building homes that are more water efficient, for example through greywater reuse, this includes case studies and cost estimates of water reuse systems, as well as building awareness of the incentive payments that water companies can offer to developers for water efficiency measures. 

National SuDS standards

Finally, we heard from Ed Lockett at DEFRA, who has been working on the updated national SuDS standards, published in June 2025. While still non-statutory in nature, these highlight the four objectives of SuDS: controlling the quantity of runoff, managing the quality of runoff, creating better places for people and nature. The new standards introduce a hierarchy of priorities to guide SuDS design, and Ed highlighted the work that is being done by the Ministry and forthcoming consideration of the wider stewardship of SuDs. The discussion that followed recognised the challenges of Britain’s aging water infrastructure, and the need for cross-industry collaboration and joint working to address water shortage and runoff issues, particularly in relation to new settlements.