Community Human Rights Action has filed an appeal in the High Court over a Department of Adaptation, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) planning inspection report that concluded that the pure purpose of the committee for the program, known as Salt Cross, was "prescriptive" not "pragmatic". ".
West Oxfordshire City Council has set targets and standards for 2,200 homes and science business parks in its action plan starting in 2018. Local authorities have set aside 215 hectares of land north of the A40 in Oxford to be decarbonised. and is powered by 100% local renewable energy sources.
In this plan, the council also listed specifications for the building's fabric, energy efficiency and measures to reduce the risk of overheating in the village, which it developed with TateHindle Architects and developer Grosvenor. In July 2020, the development team submitted an application for the initial development of the village.
But in a report released in March of this year, state planning inspectors criticized the council's ambitions for Salt Cross. They said the action plan for the region can only be adopted if it is revised to "remove the proposed information" on net carbon emissions and "offer a more pragmatic approach to the necessary transition to a low-carbon future."
The inspectors said the required standards were a "significant step down" from the 2013 Building Code requirements and were in conflict with national regulations, which campaigners called a "shady" attempt to "undermine". » Zero Action Plan of the Board of Directors. The energy efficiency policy is set out in a 2015 written ministerial statement.
Source: Tate Hindle / Grosvenor / West Oxfordshire District Council.
Sketch of the village of Duz Khach Bagh
But campaigners say the planning inspector "misunderstood" the minister's 2015 statement and continues to insist that Salt Cross's plans are in line with the national energy policy.
The group is quoted as saying: “Local planning authorities will continue to define and enforce policies in their local plans that go beyond the energy requirements of building codes.
Naomi Ludh-Thompson, director of Rights Community Action, criticized state inspectors for "persistently delaying" the implementation of the Zero Growth Initiative, based on an old ministerial statement.
He criticized the government for "failing to legally link the provisions of the Climate Change Act to planning and policy decisions at all levels, including directives from the Secretary of State."
Ludge-Thompson told AJ: "It's not fair to reject a bid to achieve zero carbon... That's not exactly what we need in 2023."
Speaking to AJ, real estate developer Grosvenor admitted that despite his July 2020 statement at Salt Kreuzen indicating how he wanted to implement the zero emissions program, his lawyer actively opposed the zero emissions policy when reviewing the regional action plan at 2021 .
Grosvenor said he felt the Salt Cross Homes' net zero return policy was "very prescriptive" for moving the project forward with confidence and that over time the board would have developed a "better system" had the plan been rejected. do it
The developer has incorporated zero carbon recommendations into its energy strategy for all Salt Cross properties, including a zero gas policy, renewable and low carbon technologies and energy efficient fabrics. He states that he is "determined to confront the climate crisis."
A Grosvenor spokesperson said: "Since the inception of the project, our goal for Salt Cross has been to create a new, highly resilient community and prioritize action to address the climate crisis, including promoting biodiversity conservation and reducing carbon emissions."
“As the review notes, while supporting the environmental ambitions of the regional action plan, we are concerned that the overly prescriptive nature of the specific guidance will make program implementation and sustainability incredibly challenging.”
His approach will ultimately be determined by the "final form of the regional action plan" agreed by the council, he said.
Ricardo Gama, a planning legal specialist at the Leigh Day law firm that represents the human rights community in the case, said government inspectors "misled" activists and criticized the Salt Cross report for setting "a confusing precedent." . This is contrary to both the state energy efficiency policy and reports prepared for other local authorities.
Gama told AJ, "Other planning inspectors appointed by the Secretary of State to check the accuracy of local plans for other sites take a very different approach to Salt Cross inspectors."
"Therefore, we hope that the Secretary of State will recognize the inconsistency in the different approaches of planning inspectors and agree with the request for action to protect the rights of the community."
Salt Cross will be partially funded by the government, which announced in 2017 that it would fund the project along with 13 other garden villages and three garden towns.
The Garden Village area, which is primarily used for agriculture, has been identified as a "strategic growth area" in the West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2031. Once adopted, a territorial action plan has the same legal status as a local plan.
West Oxfordshire Borough Council can now agree to consider proposed changes to the Borough Action Plan. However, the council is expected to wait for the outcome of the court case, which Gama said could last "most of the year" .
