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Are you concerned about climate change, but frustrated about how slowly the country is reacting?

There is much that the planning system can do to support the national effort to achieve a zero carbon, climate adapted future. But many local plans – where councils set out the planning policies which regulate how development takes place - don’t go nearly far enough and levels of public engagement are low. 

The Centre for Sustainable Energy and Town and Country Planning Association are seeking funding to support communities to engage with their council and its local plan in order to press for changes. But we need evidence that the programme is needed, and that people with high levels of concern about climate change will engage with local planning policy-making if given the right support. 

 Please help us make the case by responding to the survey below. Whilst some of the policies might be more widely applicable, the programme will be designed for the English planning system.

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* 1. How worried, if at all, are you about climate change?

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* 2. How do you feel your area is doing in terms of reducing carbon emissions and adapting to the effects and impacts of climate change?

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* 3. What should your area be doing?

  Strongly agree Agree Neutral / not sure Strongly disagree Disagree
Building sustainable homes with zero carbon emissions, low energy needs and renewable energy built in.
Making homes and buildings resilient to the effects of climate change, such as flooding and heat waves.
Increasing renewable energy generation.
Promoting sustainable transport, with more journeys on foot by bike and public transport, and infrastructure to enable this.
Providing charging infrastructure for electric cars, including in new developments.
Protecting and increasing nature and wildlife, including making new developments greener.

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* 4. How aware are you that we can achieve much of this through the planning system - in particular through your council’s local plan and the decisions it makes on planning applications?  (Some emerging local plans set out ambitious policies to combat climate change, but most don’t.)

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* 5. Your local council revises its policies on how your area develops every 5 years and you have a democratic right to make your views known and to influence these policies. At present, how likely are you to respond to your council’s local plan consultation?

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* 6. How likely would you be to respond to your council’s local plan consultation if you had:

  Extremely likely Fairly likely Neither likely nor unlikely Fairly unlikely Extremely unlikely
Tips and online advice on how to positively influence your Council's Local Plan.
A written resource helping you to comment knowledgably on the climate policies within the plan.
Free phone and email support to help you respond and understand how your council could do more.
Examples of best practice policies from around the country that your council could adapt.

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* 7. The Centre for Sustainable Energy (with the Town and Country Planning Association) is working to raise funding for a free support programme offering these services, to help communities push for stronger climate policies within their council’s Local Plans.

If such a programme existed, how likely would you be to use it?

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* 8. Is such a programme needed to increase local action on climate change, and to help communities engage constructively with what the planning system can do on climate change?

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* 9. What is the name of your local authority or council?

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* 10. If you are part of any environmental or planning group already, for example a neighbourhood planning group, local or national environmental group or organisation, please could you provide its name?

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* 11. If you are interested and would like to leave your details, we will put you on a mailing list to contact if our programme does win funding. We won’t use your details for any other purpose, and will never use, pass on, or sell, any of your details for commercial marketing purposes.

You can see our full privacy policy here: www.cse.org.uk/privacy

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* 12. Thank you for your input.

Do you have any final comments to make?

0 of 12 answered
 

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