Climate group launches legal challenge amid claims planning inspectors “diluted” net zero plans for garden village
Rights: Community: Action (RCA), which describes itself as "a rights and climate collective", has launched a High Court legal challenge over what it claims is a decision by planning inspectors to “water down” the net zero ambitions of West Oxfordshire District Council in its plan for a garden village.
West Oxfordshire submitted the Salt Cross Garden Village area action plan to the Planning Inspectorate for examination in February 2021.
The village plan is billed as a “key” part of the council’s West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2031, and involves an ambitious scheme to build 2,200 homes “through 100% use of low and zero carbon energy and materials, with no reliance on fossil fuels”.
But after a two-year long examination, inspectors found the plan had “deficiencies in respect of soundness” and sent the document back to the council with a list of required changes.
The two inspectors, Darren McCreery and David Spencer, recommended that the plan not be adopted and recommended main modifications in light of five deficiencies, one of which being a finding that the council should revise 'Policy 2' of its plan that requires development at Salt Cross to demonstrate net zero operational carbon on site.
The policy identifies a number of detailed standards/key performance indicators (KPIs) relating to building fabric, overheating, energy efficiency, use of fossil fuels, renewable energy, and embodied carbon.
The inspectors’ report noted that these requirements go beyond the approach set out in the council's Local Plan, which do not set specific standards.
The inspectors also concluded the standards demanded by the scheme are significantly higher than those required in the 2013 Building Regulations and conflict with national policy on energy efficiency set out in a 2015 Written Ministerial Statement (WMS), which pre-dated the 2015 General Election and which RCA believes is now out of date.
However, RCA argues that the inspectors misunderstood the 2015 WMS and maintains that West Oxfordshire's plans for Salt Cross Garden Village do not present a conflict with the WMS or national policy.
In its claim, RCA points out that the WMS says: "For the specific issue of energy performance, local planning authorities will continue to be able to set and apply policies in their Local Plans which require compliance with energy performance standards that exceed the energy requirements of Building Regulations until commencement of amendments to the Planning and Energy Act 2008 in the Deregulation Bill. This is expected to happen alongside the introduction of zero carbon homes policy in late 2016."
RCA contend that the inspectors were wrong to see the WMS as an expression of national policy without recognising that it has been overtaken by law and policy in the eight years since it was delivered.
The campaign group also alleges the inspectors' approach to the question of whether there was a sound evidence base to justify the policy was "infected" by their misinterpretation of national policy.
RCA is represented by Ricardo Gama of Leigh Day, who said: "There is no point building non-net zero compliant houses now only for them to have to be retrofitted at some future point before 2050. That is why community groups including Rights: Community: Action are baffled by the approach which the government's inspectors have taken to the Salt Cross Garden Village plan.
"The inspectors' approach also does not tally with government policy on energy efficiency and is inconsistent with a couple of very recent decisions by inspectors looking at other local plans. The Salt Cross decision therefore sets a confusing precedent, which is the last thing we need given the urgent need to decarbonise energy use in the home."
The Planning Inspectorate has been approached for comment.
Adam Carey
