Housing

Growth Areas and the environment

This page provides details of the Government's approach to ensure that the development of the Growth Areas will be environmentally sustainable.

What about the environment?

The Sustainable Communities Plan focuses development in the Growth Areas rather than building unsustainably in the South East. The Plan also stresses the need to make the most of brownfield land and to build to efficient higher densities.  For example, by building to efficient densities, the 1.1 million homes envisaged under the Plan will now need 3,300 hectares less green field land (an area the size of Norwich) than the previous target of 900,000 new homes.

The Government is committed to ensuring that new homes will be more environmentally friendly. For example, through the proposed improvements to Building Regulations, and the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004, we will increase the energy efficiency of housing by 20 per cent by 2010, saving 1.4m tonnes of carbon each year. We are also introducing the new Code for Sustainable Homes which will incorporate a wide range of environmental factors, including water and energy efficiency, and will exceed current Building Regulations. 

The Government's policy is to discourage unnecessary or inappropriate development but recognises that other factors are involved and some development in areas of flood risk, eg at some locations within the Growth Areas, is unavoidable. The Department is working with Defra to provide sensible and viable solutions to flood risk, and we are also publishing an updated planning policy guidance note on flooding, with a view to strengthening the existing policy. 

Greenspaces

In total over £38m of Growth Areas funding has gone to enhance the environment of the three newer Growth Areas as set out in the Sustainable Communities Plan to support the delivery and protection of a high quality environment associated with housing growth. In 2005 the Government through its response on Barker committed to allocating ten per cent of Growth Area funding to greenspace projects - this was achieved with the allocation of £24m through the second round of the Growth Areas Fund in 2006.

Growth area funding is supporting the delivery of key components of green infrastructure: 

  • rural/urban fringe - improving the interface between the urban and rural environments 
  • habitat creation - creating and restoring new areas of countryside to improve greenspace provision 
  • habitat protection - providing rare and sensitive habitats with increased protection through buffering and habitat enhancement works

Examples include:

  • Growth Area Funding: Round 2 
    Masterplanning work delivering sustainable ecological management of important areas of the East Stour River floodplain and adjacent areas of neutral grassland. 
  • Growth Area Funding: Round 1
    Much needed greenspace to the West of Cambridge will be created including enhancements to the existing Coton path linking Cambridge to the Reserve. 
  • Growth Area Funding: Round 1
    The Forest of Marston Vale is working to transform 61 square miles of land in a key location with a long-term aim of achieving 30 per cent woodland cover.

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