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Charity expands on back of council sustainability push

Written by: Jez Abbott
Published on: 26 Jan 2015
Category:

Rachel Coxcoon addresses planners

Growing demand from local authority planners for policy advice on climate change and sustainability has prompted a charity focusing on green energy to expand it planning focus.

The Centre for Sustainable Energy appointed Daniel Stone as a planning project officer.

He joined the Bristol group from Bath & North East Somerset Council where he was principal planning officer.

Head of local and community empowerment Rachel Coxcoon told Planning: “This is a major planning role; we are being approached by more and more local authorities.

“They are wanting advice on areas such as climate change and renewable energy policies and Daniel's job will be to help them blend policy into their core strategies.

“Some authorities, such as Northampton and surrounding areas, are not massively endowed with national parks, conservation areas or areas of outstanding natural beauty.

“But there are nevertheless a lot of rural areas and the lack of planning constraints means the area is being heavily hit for wind-farm applications. 

“Meanwhile the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) generally supports renewables on non-green belt sites.

“As a result, some authorities are having to accept what the developer throws at them whereas if they had stronger policies they could welcome them in a way that benefits the local community much more.”

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