Authority Monitoring Report 2019 to 2020 - Heritage, Sustainability and Waste

1. Heritage
2. Sustainability
3. Waste and minerals
 

City Plan Part One policy CP15 and retained Local Plan policies HE1-HE12 aim to ensure that the historic environment plays an integral part in the future of the city. In addition to these policies the council has also produced a Conservation Strategy and an Architectural Features Supplementary Planning Document.

There are 480 listed buildings graded I and II* in the city. There are 11 buildings graded I and II* on the current Historic England ‘At Risk’ register, including five listed places of worship. The number of buildings at risk has increased from 7 in 2013/14.

Six of the 33 conservation areas in the city are currently included on the Historic England ‘at risk’ register. This includes the Old Town and Queen’s Park conservation areas. The Management Plan for the Old Town conservation area was published in November 2018 and a Character Statement for the Queen’s Park conservation area was published in September 2018. In addition, an Article 4 Direction for the Queen’s Park conservation area is in preparation. These documents and controls will be important steps towards addressing the current threats to these areas.

Information about conservation areas and listed buildings can be accessed via the Heritage page of the council website.

The council’s commitment towards securing high sustainability standards is set out in City Plan Part One policy CP8 ‘Sustainable Buildings’ and provides policy on sustainability standards equivalent to the previous code for sustainable homes (set out in the code for sustainable homes on the GOV.UK website) level 4 standard:

• energy - 19% reduction in CO2 emissions over Part L Building Regulations requirements (2013)
• water - ‘Optional’ water standards: 110 litres/person/day 

In March 2015 the requirement for any level of the code for sustainable homes was removed by a Written Ministerial Statement although the standard remained for those developments with a condition requiring a code for sustainable homes certificate until an application was made to vary the condition. The data presented in this monitoring report continues to reflect the transition from code for sustainable homes standards to the new energy efficiency standards within the City Plan Part One.

In 2019/20 all new build developments were completed with a requirement for the new standard or code for sustainable homes (Table 1). Only developments applying for full planning are required to submit a Sustainability Checklist, as a consequence, the energy performance of other applications such as prior approval is not recorded.

Table 1: Net new build housing completions 2019 to 2020: Proposed sustainability standards

Policy CP8 of the City Plan Part One also requires that all development proposals will be expected to demonstrate how the development will facilitate on-site low or zero carbon (LZC) technologies. Applicants are asked to indicate via the Sustainability Checklist whether LZC technologies will be introduced into the development. Of the new build residential applications completed in 2019/20; 22 of 49 (45%) had indicated in their sustainability checklist that they would install LZC technologies. Of the 22 developments introducing LZC technologies 19 proposed to do so through the installation of solar photovoltaics and 55% through efficient gas boilers.

Brighton & Hove City Council, as a Waste and Minerals Planning Authority, provides planning policies for waste management and minerals production. The Council, working in partnership with East Sussex County Council and the South Downs National Park Authority, adopted the Waste and Minerals Plan in February 2013 and a Waste and Minerals Sites Plan in February 2017. A review of the Waste and Minerals Plan is currently being undertaken by the Authorities, with a focus on the supply of minerals.

Waste

The main types of waste are:

• Local Authority Collected Waste (LACW) - Household waste comprises approximately 95% of local authority collected waste, the remainder coming from sources such as street sweepings and public parks and gardens
• Commercial and Industrial Waste (C&I) - this is produced from shops, food outlets, businesses, and manufacturing activities and comprises about 27% of waste in the Plan Area as a whole
• Construction, Demolition and Excavation Waste (CDEW) - produced from building activity, with a considerable proportion of it is considered to be inert, CDEW comprises an estimated 51% of all waste arisings
• other wastes - this includes hazardous waste, liquid waste (other than wastewater), and wastes arising from the agricultural sector

The City Council monitors the quantity of local authority collected waste (LACW) but it does not directly monitor the quantity of commercial and industrial waste or construction, demolition and excavation waste arisings. The best estimate for C&I waste arisings for East Sussex and Brighton & Hove in 2018 was 516,420 tonnes, the best estimate for annual arisings of CDEW remains 906,000 tonnes. Further detail on these waste streams and commentary on the Plan Area, as a whole, can be found in the East Sussex Waste and Minerals AMR.

There were 108,894 tonnes of household LACW arising in Brighton & Hove in 2019/20, a reduction on the 111,179 tonnes in the previous monitoring year. The majority of waste (69.6%) in 2019/20 was sent for energy recovery, a slight increase on the previous two monitoring years.

As a consequence, the amount of landfilled waste continues to reduce and represented only 2.5 percent of all LACW which is in contrast to 59 percent sent to landfill in 2007/08. Over a quarter of waste arisings (28%) were recycled, composted or reused, a similar proportion to recent monitoring years. The proportion of recycled waste remained at 19 percent, while re-use and composting increased slightly to 8.4 percent with five percent composted. The Local Authority will continue to take steps to encourage waste minimisation and the movement of waste management up the waste hierarchy.

Minerals

Brighton & Hove does not have any active mineral sites and the level of production in East Sussex is very low by regional standards. Actual production figures are bound by confidentiality constraints, caused by particular commercial sensitivities due to the small number of operators in place. National policy is to increase the use of secondary and recycled aggregates as an alternative to reducing reserves of primary aggregates and this is reflected in Waste and Minerals Plan Policy WMP3. Background work undertaken indicates that capacity in the plan area for secondary and recycled aggregates is currently around 310,000 tonnes per annum. Current secondary/recycled aggregates facilities in the plan area and further explanation and detailed figures for East Sussex and Brighton & Hove can be found in the East Sussex Waste and Minerals AMR.

It is a requirement of the NPPF to produce an annual Local Aggregate Assessment (LAA) to assess the demand for and supply of aggregates in their area. The 2020 LAA was created jointly with East Sussex County Council and the South Downs National Park Authority and was published in December 2020.