Authority Monitoring Report 2020 to 2021 - Heritage, Sustainability and Waste

Heritage
Sustainability
Waste and minerals

1. Heritage

City Plan Part 1 policy CP15 and retained Local Plan policies HE1 to 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.

6 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.

A 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 has been introduced for the Queen’s Park conservation area which will take effect on 4 June 2022. 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.

2. Sustainability

The Council declared a climate and biodiversity emergency in December 2018 and has made a commitment as a city to be carbon neutral by 2030. The implementation of planning policies in the City Plan can help achieve this commitment.

Energy efficiency standards are sought through policy CP8 of the City Plan Part 1.

In 2020/21 99.7% of new build development applications were completed with a requirement for the standard to achieve a reduction in carbon emissions of 19% (Table 1) and a water efficiency standard of not more than 110 litres per person per day maximum indoor water consumption. The one development that did not meet the requirement was approved on appeal.

Table 1: Net new build housing completions 2020/21: Proposed sustainability standards

	Completed new build dwellings	Percentage of completed dwellings
Reduction in carbon emissions of 19%	300	99.7%
No standard	1	0.3%
Total units	301

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 approvals is not recorded.

There were 1,575 new build residential units given planning approval in 2020/21 with a requirement for the standard to achieve a reduction in carbon emissions of 19% which equates to 99.7% of all new build units approved in the monitoring year.

Policy CP8 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 2020/21, 20 (48.8%) had indicated in their sustainability checklist that they would install LZC technologies. These developments comprised 73% of completed new build residential units.

The following indicators represent a selection of the relevant sustainability indicators which are reported in the Appendices to the Authority Monitoring Report 2020/21.