Twenty-eighth Report Adapting Institutions to Climate Change Cm ...

Chapter 3
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had achieved level 1 or higher. vii For all local authority areas, 49% reported being at Level 1 or
above. However, there is little evidence of authorities reporting at Level 4. A revised indicator is
being developed for the 2011-2014 period, in the light of experience in the first round.
Through Scotland’s Climate Change Declaration, all of Scotland’s local authorities have committed
themselves to take action, in partnership with the Scottish Government, both to mitigate their
impact on climate change and to adapt to predicted climate change impacts. Signatories also
agree to issue an annual statement detailing the progress of their climate change response. The
Declaration has been in place since January 2007, and 2008 was the first year that councils reported.
In the recent round of reporting, roughly half of local authorities reported against commitments
in the Declaration. Similar arrangements are in place in Wales.
PLANNING REGIMES
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The land use planning regime has a crucial role to play in promoting adaptation to climate change
in all parts of the UK. The first Town and Country Planning Act in 1947 focused largely on
physical factors relating to land use and the development of the built environment. Over the years,
the scope of planning has expanded to include socio-economic and, more recently, environmental
factors. There is ample scope now for spatial planning and development control to address both
the effects of development on an environment that is subject to a changing climate, and the effects
of climate on development. Given the importance of the planning system, the Commission asked
the Town and Country Planning Association to undertake a study on the institutional capacity
of the planning system to deliver climate change adaptation. Its report, which covers all parts of
the UK, comprehensively reviews the institutional arrangements and the powers and duties in
planning legislation; this report has now been published. 23 Here we limit our discussion to the
key elements of the system.
The town and country planning regime has two closely connected components: development
planning and development control. The nature of development plans has changed several times
to meet the prevailing policies of governments in power but the basic premise remains the same:
a development plan is a forward look aimed at matching the predicted social and environmental
needs for the area in question against the availability of suitable land. Plans are drawn up by local
authorities; the geographical scale and the detail of coverage, including whether or not there is a
hierarchy of plans at different geographical scales, has been a matter of government policy. One
key feature of development plans is that they do not dictate what development will take place but,
rather, encourage developments whilst placing limits on the uses to which land may be put. In
this respect they are prospective but not prescriptive.
vii Level 1 requires that the authority has made a public commitment to identify and manage climate-related
risk. The authority will have undertaken a local risk-based assessment of significant vulnerabilities to, and
opportunities arising from, weather and climate change, both now and in the future. It can demonstrate a
sound understanding of those vulnerabilities not yet addressed in existing strategies and actions (e.g. in land
use planning documents, service delivery plans, flood and coastal resilience plans, emergency planning,
community risk registers/strategies, etc.). It will have communicated these potential vulnerabilities and
opportunities to department/service heads and other local partners and will have set out the next steps
in addressing them.
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