The UK Round Table on Sustainable Development is warning that PPG13 has yet to make any significant impact on development patterns. The group’s findings are based on a survey of commercial and residential development in relation to transport facilities in the Northampton area. Proposals for PPG13 were first published two and a half years ago.
The report identifies several obstacles to more sustainable relationships between transport and development patterns in the Northampton area, and sets out recommendations for overcoming these.
- The location of new development in Northampton is still largely determined by decisions taken at least twenty years ago, which assumed increasing car and lorry use. Radical changes in land use planning will be needed and must be reflected in development plans.
- Businesses favour development on greenfield sites because these are usually cheaper for them – even though such developments often impose wider environmental and social costs. According to the Round Table, the developers and users of such sites, rather than the country as a whole, should bear such costs.
- Local authorities do not have all the powers they need. For example, claims the Round Table, they cannot ensure the provision of a coherent network of bus services. They are also prevented from taking a comprehensive approach to transport spending, states the report, because of the fragmented and short term way in which Government expenditure allocations are determined.
Round Table co-chairman Professor Sir Richard Southwood commented: “The main need is to make sure that new development is not put in places that are accessible only by car. Unless we can secure better integration of transport and land use planning, we shall never achieve sustainable transport at the local level.”
Copies of the report are available from Eddie Luck of Northamptonshire County Council on Tel. No. 01604 236715.
The Government set up the Round Table in 1995 to encourage debate on the issue of sustainable development. Originally set to run for two years, the group has won consent from the Government to continue its work until at least 1999. Environment Secretary John Gummer co-chairs the Round Table with Sir Richard Southwood.
EGi News 17/02/97
